The moment of reckoning by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office for those involved in the OPEKEPE inspections is drawing near, following the arrests in Crete, as some of these cases involve illegal land declarations on the island of Nisyros.
This reckoning is approaching because, despite the fact that the inspectors—who dubbed themselves "heavy artillery"—had been notified by local residents about fraudsters from a Crete-based Farmers' Support Center (KYD) who were pointing out fields belonging to other owners, the inspectors continued to accept the fake land parcels presented to them for three days.
Reported to the Police and Port Authority
The result was that the matter ended up with the Police and the Coast Guard following complaints from the local forester, who caught the fraudsters red-handed on the first day, yet the "heavy artillery" continued their work unabated. Bankingnews (BN) is in possession of the inspection report compiled by these inspectors, and we present excerpts here along with our own observations.
The nameless forester
They report, characteristically: "On Tuesday 30/08/2022 (Day 1), K. B… D… of E… appeared on the island of Nisyros as an authorized representative of the beneficiary B… EM… of D… The beneficiary in question appears in the Single Aid Application for the years 2020 and 2021 to declare 5 agricultural plots (pastures in good condition) of a total area of 123.66 ha on the island of Nisyros.
During the inspection process and the identification of the plots, the Nisyros forester appeared and asked what we were doing there. In a brief conversation he had with us and the authorized representative of the audited beneficiary, he determined that Mr. B… was identifying as his own lands that belonged both to his relatives and to various other local residents of Nisyros, whom he knew personally.
There was an 'intense' discussion between the forester and Mr. B…, with the latter admitting that 'the lands are not mine,' but 'because it is community money, someone should take it'." At the end, after the forester had left, Mr. B… decided to sign the identification of the plots in the field inspection form for both 2020 and 2021, believing that 'we are nice ladies and will help him,' which we refused, pointing out that he should take all legal actions, i.e., find the owners and draw up lease agreements."
Instructions for a cover-up
As can be understood, the "heavy artillery" suggested to the person who had made false declarations that he should find the owners and sign lease agreements. As simple and clear as that. Naturally, the... "artillery" does not state whether they disqualified the plots, nor did they wonder—given that the audit concerned 2022—whether the fraudsters had collected subsidies in 2021 and 2020, which had indeed happened. They also coincidentally forgot to mention the forester's details, nor did they ask for any information about his relatives.
The anonymous KYD operators
In another part of the report, they state that "On Wednesday 31/08/2022 (Day 2), Mr. K… G… appeared with authorizations, accompanied by Mr. F… E… and Ms. L… M…, to point out the plots of the beneficiaries: (names and tax IDs are omitted for personal data reasons), all with their base of operation on the island of Crete. It is noted that Mr. F… E… is the CEO and Ms. L… is the Head of Human Resources and Operational Planning of the certified KYD K…, to which the aforementioned audited beneficiaries belong.
During the audit process, upon reaching the plot of K. D… A… (Tax ID 1…) for inspection, we met two gentlemen from Nisyros who stated that part of the plot in question is in their possession and that they have all the necessary documents proving this claim. Then, Mr. Fragkiadakis accused us of a 'People's Court,' despite the assurances of the gentlemen that they do not know us and that they were informed about what is happening on the island by a producer who had been audited by us the previous day and whose plots are adjacent." Here, the "heavy artillery" does not even mention the name of the KYD nor other details of the operators that could identify them, and paradoxically or artfully, they do not mention the names of the residents either.
Branding facts as rumors and owners as residents
The party continues in another section where the "heavy artillery" report that "On Thursday 1/09/2022 (Day 3), at the meeting point (Nisyros Port Authority) with the producers to be audited, a crowd of Nisyros residents was waiting for us with their topographic maps in hand to confirm the possession of their lands, alarmed by the rumor circulating on the island that residents of Crete are declaring their lands as their own to receive subsidies.
Also, there was a phone call from the Mayor, asking for explanations about the situation. In the crowd in question was also a Greek-American who asked the police to verify the details of the four inspectors of the Organization, and so we were called to the Nisyros Police Station where it was verified that we are employees of OPEKEPE." Reading the text, one can easily perceive that the "heavy artillery" wrote whatever they wanted, as it was not a crowd of "residents" but permanent inhabitants of the island who knew their properties.
Moreover, it was not a "rumor" but actual events, and the most important thing is that the islanders were enraged when they realized that the inspectors continued to perform "sham" audits while the fraudsters continued to point out as their own fields that obviously belonged to the residents of Nisyros. Furthermore, they do not say whether they disqualified the plots or how they utilized the information given to them by the residents—who were, paradoxically, all without names or details in the report. For these and obviously other reasons, the time is coming when, after the arrests, they will have to explain what they did during the inspections and what they did before and after them regarding the fraudsters, and to what extent they protected them.
And the question is: why, my dear ladies, after all this, did you go to the Parliamentary Committee and characterize yourselves as "Heavy Artillery"? We have the explanation, and there is more to come.
Nikos Karoutzos
nkaroutzos@gmail.com
www.bankingnews.gr
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