Depositing at Commission of Inquiry of the Parliament for him OKAYthe Minister of Rural Development, Kostas Tsiarasemphasized that from the first moment he put himself and the ministry at her disposal European Public Prosecutor’s Office. He claimed that all complaints of misconduct that reached him were immediately forwarded to the relevant judicial bodies and the financial police.
Responding to the rapporteur of PASOK, Milena Apostolakithe minister categorically denied that the country is being controlled for “blue scandal» during the ND government. He countered that the pathogens of the Organization is timelesswith piles of letters and recommendations from the European Commission already arriving since 2010. He accused previous governments that, while they were aware of the problems, they did not address them, leaving “windows” open for illegal subsidies.
Personal interventions to freeze payments
Mr. Tsiaras emphasized that he took specific measures when he detected irregularities. As he stated:
- It was the first year that no money was given from the national reserveas he found an “excessive increase” in the number of animals, which “rang a bell”.
- When he saw problems in the payments of ecological formshe requested further checks himself. The audit revealed a “problematic reality” with 31,000 VAT number and 49,000 fake certificates.
- Suspended personally the payment of biologicalwhen he found that the numbers were “beyond reason» (e.g. areas of pasture for organic livestock were requested that did not exist, or the number of hives for organic beekeeping covered almost the entire country).
The answer to the Tycheropoulou case
Asked why she did not sign the employee’s secondment Paraskevi Tycheropoulou at the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, Mr. Tsiaras replied that he had the official document reservation by 4 service factors and did not identify them standard qualifications. He claimed to have met Ms Tycheropoulou himself and explained the “standard legal problem” to her.
According to the minister, after an answer from the former president of OPEKEPE, Nikos Salatas, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office retired from the secondment request, and he himself, as he said, “attempted to observe legality”.
“Steady will to clear the landscape”
Invited by the New Left Member of Parliament, Hussein Zebekto comment on whether there is a “scandal” or a “criminal organization”, Mr. Tsiaras described OPEKEPE as “a extremely problematic case».
However, he used the “tangible results” of the surveys (such as 22.5 million euros in 1,000 VAT numbers found by the Financial Police and the recent arrests) as proof of “firm will» of the government to clarify the landscape and that there be no obstruction to the work of Justice.
Finally, he expressed his concern about the financial corrections (fines) from the EU, emphasizing that reform efforts are underway (such as integration into the AADE and hiring 100 extra people) to convince the Commission to revise the penalties.