In her intervention, the former Vice President of OPEKEPE, Dimitra HalikiaIt is placed on the Prime Minister’s announcement to create a specialized audit team, consisting of the Financial Police and AADE, with the aim of identifying those who received irregularly agricultural aid. Describing the initiative as extremely important, it still sets a critical prerequisite for its success.
In her letter to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Ms. Halikia, which has previously highlighted malfunctions in the Agency, underlines the urgent need for complete and detailed tracing of all payments made in the years 2022 and 2023. As he says, without this retrospective examination, it is virtually impossible to identify with certainty.
Focusing on this two years is not accidental. According to Mrs. Halikia, these years are decisive, as from all fines of € 415 million imposed by the European Union in our country, an amount of 178 million (about 43%) is directly linked to payments of the period 2022-2023.
An additional crucial element it quotes is the absence of a functional and integrated information system during these two years. This lack, as he explains, resulted in no credible history of payments, which today makes it difficult to document and control the management of Community resources.
For these reasons, the former Vice -President calls on the prime minister to give a clear direction to the Minister of Rural Development in order to raise and hand over the control group all the necessary information to allow the full reconstitution of the money for the two years.
Through this process, it estimates that the deeper causes of European charges will come to light, detect fraud cases will be detected and eventually it will be possible to attribute responsibility to persons who, by their actions or omissions, harmed OPECEPE and exposed the country. “It is necessary for the control team to follow the ‘traces of money’ to clarify administrative, political and technical responsibilities,” he concludes in her letter, calling for the immediate activation of mechanisms to restore transparency and accountability in the management of European funds.
In detail her letter:
“To:
Honorable Mr. Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic
Subject: The need for an immediate command to investigate the payments of agricultural aid years 2022–2023 under the Financial Police Control Group – AADE
Dear Mr Prime Minister,
I have heard your will to declare your will to identify those who received not being entitled to, with the establishment of a Joint Financial Police and AADE control group. This is an extremely critical initiative, necessary to restore citizens’ confidence and the European Union in the way Community resources are managed in our country.
In order for this initiative to have a real effect, it is absolutely necessary to complete the payments of the years 2022 and 2023, because without it it is impossible to accurately identify the beneficiaries who have received money illegally or unjustifiably.
These years are decisive for shaping the overall picture:
Of the total amount of fines of € 415 million imposed by the European Union, EUR 178 million (ie 43%) relate to payments of 2022 and 2023.
Specifically for the year 2022, an additional imputation of 52,382,946.81 euros is pending, based on the finding of the European Court of Auditors (30.06.2023), which concerns 196,083 VAT. In addition, an amount of EUR 5,170,737.07 which is specifically attributed to PDP 11 payments. Of particular importance to the fact that, although there was an explicit risk label by the auditors (document No. 79351/12.12.2022), with regard to the absence of cross -checks and the presence of non -eligible beneficiaries, the payments proceeded normally on 12.122.2022.
It is also known that in the years 2022 and 2023, no operational information system was used, and as a result, a complete history of payment is not observed, which today prevents retrospective documentation of management.
However:
OPECEPE has already been remedied for the remedy of the problem for previous years, with the contractor who has to work to reconstruct the historicity of the data. Only it is not yet ordered to do so.
For 2024-2027, a contract of EUR 19,400,000 has been concluded and is in force with a union of companies that supports the complete technical infrastructure of OPEKEPE.
It is therefore necessary to have a clear order by you to the Minister of Rural Development, to draw up and deliver complete trace of payments for the years 2022–2023 to the control group.
Only in this way:
will reveal the real causes of the charges,
Possible fraud phenomena will be identified,
And they will be responsible for those who have contributed to the national and European depreciation of OPEKEPE and our country.
The control team must gain access to “traces of payments” in order to clearly arise administrative, political and technical responsibilities, if and where they exist.
With complete respect for your institutional role,
I ask you as a citizen to immediately activate the appropriate administrative and political commands so that the country can prove that it wishes to manage Community resources with honesty, transparency and accountability.
By honor,
DIMITRA HALIKIA
Public Officer, former OPECEPE Vice President. “