Greece’s parliament ethics committee unanimously recommended lifting the immunity of 11 lawmakers implicated in a farm subsidy fraud investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
All 11 MPs from the ruling New Democracy party had requested the lifting of their immunity. The committee’s decision clears the way for a plenary vote expected after 19 April.
Nine of the 11 MPs submitted written statements to the committee, while former Rural Development Minister Kostas Tsiaras and MP Notis Mitarakis appeared in person to make their case.
Tsiaras told reporters he asked for his immunity to be lifted “because it is a matter of personal dignity and because I think that all of us must understand that this case must be cleared up as soon as possible.”
He said the case involving him concerned “a legitimate request from a weak citizen who had been affected by the Mediterranean cyclone Janus in the Karditsa region.”
Mitarakis said he appeared before the committee to support the prosecutor’s request. “I believe that my office, my colleagues, and I have acted absolutely within the framework of the Constitution and our political activity by promoting written requests of citizens who believe that they have been wronged by the central administration,” he said.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office requested the lifting of immunity on 1 April as part of an investigation into an organised fraud scheme involving EU agricultural funds.
The investigation centres on alleged felonies and misdemeanours against EU financial interests, including the instigation of breach of trust, computer fraud and false attestation.
The investigation examines whether subsidy beneficiaries made false claims, including claims for land they did not own and inflated livestock counts.
Cases under investigation reportedly include pastures declared on archaeological sites, olive trees in a military airport and banana plantations on Mount Olympus.
The EPPO also forwarded information to parliament regarding the alleged involvement of a former minister and a deputy minister of rural development. Five former MPs are also under investigation.
The scandal led to the resignation of a minister in Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ cabinet and the closure of OPEKEPE, the agency that handled EU subsidies.
The scheme exploited weaknesses in Greece’s land registry after the EU began calculating subsidies based on land area rather than livestock in 2014.
With unclear ownership across much of Greece, farmers were allowed to declare land owned elsewhere to claim subsidies.