“Strictly delimited” and without economic object with him OKAY it was her work “GAIA Business” from 2014 to 2021, as argued in Commission of Inquiry the CEO of the company, Anestis Tripitsidis.
The witness pointed out that his company was merely certified as Coordinating Body of KYD (Declaration Reception Centers). Her role, she said, was to ensure the quality of applications by checking error codes given to it by OPEKEPE and undertaking the “debugging”.
“The control was formal, not of substance”
Mr. Tripitsidis made it clear that “GAIA Enterprise” “had no authority or responsibility to review the legality of the content of the documents”.
He claimed that the responsibility for the content was with the KYD, while the OKAY he was the only one obliged to check her legality of applications. “The control carried out by the company was typical and not substance until 2021″, he said.
Warnings about pastures and “fictitious animals”
Answering questions from MPs, the witness admitted that the company had identified problems, which it reported in its annual reports to OPEKEPE.
- For pastures (question by B. Kokkalis): Mr. Tripitsidis stated that already in 2015 “GAIA” had pointed out that the “rough artificial solution” for the pastures it should not have continued and that OPEKEPE was responsible for solving the problem.
- Regarding the fictitious statements of animals (question by M. Apostolakis): He stated that his company could not have known, as it did not have access to the relevant Veterinary Service. “OPEKEPE should have told us. We couldn’t control it,” he stressed.
“It’s not entanglement, it’s innovation”
Mr. Tripitsidis received strong questions, both from the majority and from the opposition, regarding his “ethics” for three companies (which are connected by shares) to cooperate with OPEKEPE.
The ND rapporteur, Makarios Lazaridisdescribed this partnership as “the definition of it entanglement». The witness rejected the allegation, arguing that it was a “collusion between three arms” with a different object, which he described as a “novelty”.
Boridis and Varras
The witness also mentioned that “GAIA” had informed OPEKEPE about the problematic operation of some KYD. He noted that the former president, Grigoris Varras, had recommended the decertification of some KYD because they did not comply with the methods of “GAIA”. The then Minister, Makis Voridisaccepted the proposal and the KYD lost their certification, also losing the appeal to the Council of State.
Closing his testimony and responding to the KKE rapporteur, Mr. Tripitsidis warned that the subsidies from community funds to our country will be reduced by 22% and “nobody cares.”