Former OPEKEPE chief Dimitris Mela convicted in Greek agricultural subsidy fraud case

A Athens criminal court sentenced former OPEKEPE president Dimitris Mela and former director Athanasia Repka to a combined term of five years and eight months for aiding a criminal and breaching duty in the agricultural subsidy fraud investigated by the European Public Prosecutor Office. The court upgraded the offence of document export to a felony, noting damage exceeding €120,000, and imposed a travel ban on the defendants.

The judgment also ordered the case file to be forwarded to the European Public Prosecutor Office for further investigation into possible responsibilities of additional officials. An appeal will be heard by the Criminal Court of Appeals, following a prosecutor’s request to treat the document‑export charge as a serious crime. The scandal originated from whistle‑blower Paraskevi Tychropoulou’s revelations of false statements and illegal payments to farmers, covering dozens of suspicious tax identification numbers and subsidies worth up to €260,000 per recipient.