Violent attack on him Maki Voridis and the government was launched by SYRIZA-PS, on the occasion of his testimony to the Commission of Inquiry on the OPEKEPE scandal.
As sources from Koumoundourou report, “Mr. Voridis, indulging in logical jumps and ironies, declared himself “innocent” and fortified himself behind the party protection net of the ND”.
After first pointing out the fact that he declared “complete ignorance of the dramatic increase in livestock declarationsthe same sources wondered if “after the Vorides accusations, Mr. Varras remains Mitsotakis’ adviser?”
“Mr. Voridis, dedicated to logical leaps and ironiesdeclared himself “innocent” to the Investigative Committee and fortified himself behind the party “protection net” offered to him by the ND, with the well-known parliamentary coup by which the Pre-Inquiry Committee was rejected,” SYRIZA-PS sources said.
“So he can argue that ‘there is no meaning and no interest’ in the shocking conversations that show him as the man tasked with Maximos Palace to be in command regarding OPEKEPE and subsidies, even after the end of his own term in the relevant ministry. He can admit that he knows “Frape” but also pretend that he has nothing to do with the “busybonders” who use (coincidentally? ) his name. He can distance himself from the deeds of the exes close partners to the Ministry, as if he knew nothing about them” commented the same sources.
“He was forced to at least admit that the “womb” of the OPEKEPE scandal is not the “Technical Solution”. But its twisted application in the days of the ND, when the “blue” ministerstogether with the administrations, “constantly relaxed” the controls by covering up the false pasture declarations by the members of the criminal ring” they noted.
“At the same time, he admitted the exclusive responsibilities of the ND for the non-completion of the Administrative Grazing Plans, the preparation of which had been initiated by SYRIZA, but remained until today in the drawers of the Mitsotakis government in order to maintain the activity of the circuit” underline the same sources.
And they point out that “after the Voridis testimony, the Maximos Mansion remains exposed: if what Mr. Voridis complains against Mr. Varras is true, how the first remains a scientific advisor the prime minister? Which of the two is right? Mr. Voridis or Mr. Varras who categorically denied the claims of the former Minister of Rural Development and Food?
The only one who can enlighten the Commission of Inquiry, as SYRIZA-PS has already requested, is himself Prime Minister, Mr. Mitsotakis» stressed SYRIZA-PS sources.
“Perhaps he has something more convincing to answer for what SPECIFICALLY Andreas Karasarinis, “the child” according to Voridis (and secretary of the agricultural sector of the ND) has said in the Kyriakos Babasidis: “Well, I told you to only talk to MAXIMOS because they are the ones who arrange it, there is nothing the trio there SCHERTSOS, GERAPETRITIS, VORIDIS. […] And the president, no one else. […] You understood that they say that this will happen and it will happen. For better or for worse, they have left everything in the NORTH.”
Until then, Mr. Voridis can, with legal arguments, it obscures the truth and not to answer the questions put to him by the SYRIZA-PS rapporteur to the Commission of Inquiry, Vassilis Kokkalis:
a) Why the number of sheep and goats in Crete increased from 4,127,588 on 1/1/2019 to 5,139,460 on 1/1/2020,
b) Why the number of basic support rights from the National Reserve in Crete for the Regional Unit of Pastures, from 26,495 in 2018, increased to 55,024 in 2019 and to 129,039 in 2020.
c) Why the value of the granted basic support rights in Crete, from €6,736,451.41 in 2018 (37.4% of the total value), increased to €13,096,362.88 in 2019 (53.9% of the total value) and to €28,791,571.61 in 2020 (64% of the total value)”.
“Mr. Voridis did not respond to all of this,” his sources pointedly commented SYRIZA-PS.
And they continued “he also declared ignorance about the increase in beneficiaries and subsidies, even though, according to the information note delivered by the former President of OPEKEPE, Mr. Varras, to the Deputy Minister in addition to the Prime Minister, Mr. Mylonakis, it appears that, during the Voridis ministry, the amounts of subsidies for the national reserve were more than doubled. In fact, the average national reserve that year was 5,500 euros per farmer, an amount three times higher than the average subsidy entitlement of farmers (1,695 euros). In Crete, for example, while in 2017 the 4,736 beneficiaries of the subsidy received 6.7 million euros, in 2019 the 4,294 applicants received 13 million euros and in 2020 a total of 8,776 livestock farmers received the multiple amount of 28.79 million.”
“The reality, after all, is indisputable and recorded in the official transmission of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) to the Greek authorities, where it is SPECIFICALLY mentioned in relation to Mr. Avgenakis and Voridis:
“In the course of the present investigation, indications emerged of offenses of complicity in abuse against the financial interests of the European Union and moral turpitude in committing an abuse against the EU’s financial interestscarried out repeatedly, with a loss of more than 120,000 euros (articles 26a, 27, 46, 47, 94, 98 and 390 of the Civil Code).”
By the way, the one now known only as “Makis”, cannot convinceeven the most bona fide Greek citizen, that OPEKEPE has not “become the acronym for corruption, nepotism and customer orientation”, as emphasized by the European Prosecutor Ms. Kovesi – during the Mitsotakis administration, we would fill in” SYRIZA sources say.
“For this reason, SYRIZA-PS will continue to demand a complete clarification of the case, the performance of all responsibilities – political and criminal – and the justice for the people of the primary sectorwhom the Mitsotakis government treats as the spoils of a party apparatus” concluded sources in SYRIZA-PS.