“The problem of this case is not two persons but timeless”
SKAI television was hosted by ND MP and former Minister of Rural Development Lefteris Avgenakiswho referred to the involvement of his own name in his case OPECEPE.
“The prosecution has fallen into two former ministers’ names and, as he typically says, sends, without processing, all the evidence is owed. So there is no indictment. It simply describes but in essence it does not evaluate and sends them to the Greek Parliament, “he initially said.
“It’s right to check. However, the indictment also makes reference to non -political executives. There is no processing of the data by prosecutors. Is there a criminal, any evidence or indication? What concerns me, no, absolutely none. Is there any ministerial decision to bring my signature? No. Is there any emails to my subordinates? No. Is there at least a telephone communication of mine with a third party? No. So there is no evidence to be a criminal offense. “
Asked about the former OPECEPE President, Evangelos Simandrakos, Mr. Avgenakis emphasized that asking your existing one to resign for specific reasons is not a criminal offense.
“Mr. Simandrakos has a term before I go to the ministry for 1 year. It has a series of problematic decisions, bad administrative initiatives, which even at this time we are discussing, the Greek FBI is in OPECEPE’s offices and controls them. These administrative decisions have proven to be a few tens of millions. While all the officials are negatively recommending for the way, he has made a payment process in a way that he was judged, “he said, adding:
“I will present these to the House, always with elements. I will gather the reasons that led me to ask for his resignation. So at the end of October I ask for his resignation, when he had made the payment of the month, which was very bad, it was the culmination. However, has Mr. Simandrakos reported a pressure on my part to release or without control of a reserved VAT? No. In fact, I have received a relevant note July 28, October 27, and even October 30, when I have already asked him for resignation. “
Even focusing on the complaints of Simandrakou that the payments of 2023 did not eventually join 9,309 VAT IDs, which did not meet the eligibility criteria for the subsidy, with 63% coming from Crete, Mr Avgenakis noted that “they were not eligible,”
“So when does he mention Avgenakis About Pressure and Pressure? In its third deposit in February 2025. The first deposit is February 24, February 25, February 25th, the third additional February 26th and then for the first time Mr Simandrakos says it was self -sufficient during my term. October 2023, however, the pressure became unbearable by Mr. Avgenakis because the 6,000 VAT were not paid, ”he said and explained:
“My intention was to check all the VAT. Why were they not checked? One and a half years why were they not checked? What does ID mean? It means people, family, farmers and breeders, who are not all scammers. He had to check them. Once he had to control them and did not, he could not invoke them, so he didn’t do his job well. Or if he checked them and were illegally, what should he do, keep them? No, he had to go to the prosecutor. The committed VAT ranked 16,548. Month – month I had been informed by the previous administration, namely Mr Simandrakos’ next about the VAT Audit process, reaching the last update 21 May 2024 from 16,548 to have been tested 7,545. “
Regarding the dialogues in question, the former minister spoke of agrarian unionists who are “extremely extreme” against him in the races.
“When they say to me they asked me for something and I told them I would do the legally, I’m sorry but that is not a problem. It is rather reward that something I was trying to gather and I probably didn’t satisfy things that they wanted“, He said characteristically, while concluding the pre -trial in the House of Representatives:
“The problem of OPEKEPE right now is not two former ministers, Voridis and Avgenakis. It’s timeless. And it is of great value at this stage when things are finally said by their name, while at the same time we have legal structures from the opposition parties. Especially the proposal from PASOK needs analysis and commentary. PASOK is confident and intertwined, because it has been at the helm of the country for a long time since OPECEPE started operating. So we want an exam, because we want to control over time all this issue that has arisen with the OPECEPE scandal. “