The case of the preliminary investigation into Kostas Karamanlis may have been put on the rails after the vote in Parliament, but the OPEKEPE case, which has taken on major European dimensions, is coming back to raise new concerns at the Maximos building. The documentation from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office that arrived yesterday at the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office and is expected to be immediately forwarded to the Parliament and then communicated to the parties includes the names of former Rural Development ministers Makis Voridis and Lefteris Avgenakis, who in turn maintain that they have not taken any illegal action.

They have stated that they have not taken any illegal action.

Government sources point out to protothema.gr that they have not taken note of the case file and cannot comment on it until they are informed of its content, which will obviously determine the decisions of the opposition parties on their next moves. For example, PASOK sources leave wide open the possibility of calling for the establishment of a Investigation Commission on the case, with government sources responding that they cannot comment on a request that does not exist and on a file that has not yet reached Parliament. In any case, the government points out that the recognition of the problem of the OPEKEPE was translated into the decision to subordinate it to the AADE, so that under the new strict framework the subsidies are received by those who should actually receive them.

The consultations and the responses

The case caused a stir as soon as it emerged yesterday afternoon, and an alarm was sounded at the Maximou Mansion, with Kyriakos Mitsotakis returning from Thessaloniki, where he was touring. According to reports, there was contact with Immigration Minister Makis Voridis, while Lefteris Avgenakis, whose name has been in the background for days, has provided assurances to the Mansion House that he is not involved in anything untoward.

“Because I know very well what I have done as Minister of Rural Development, I do not need to wait to know what the above-mentioned dossier contains. I have not committed any criminal act in the performance of my duties,” Voridis said in a written statement yesterday. “As Minister of Rural Development and Food, I exercised my duties with transparency and conscientiousness. The judiciary is doing its job without prejudice. We are all equal before the law,” said Lefteris Avgenakis in turn.

A crucial parameter, according to the analysis of government officials, will be what is included in the European prosecutor’s file on the former ministers. Whether it is, for example, testimonies of other people involved who mention them, or whether it is about any intercepted conversations between people involved who mention the former ministers, and, of course, in what way. However, as stated in the statement of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in Greece, due to Article 86, there is no substantial assessment of the involvement of former ministers, a role that by definition is assigned to the Parliament.

The “Triandopoulos model”

It is a given that the next few days will be of political interest, as OPEKEPE may have registered in the public consciousness as a “den” of mismanagement, but the involvement of political figures in the case changes the political balance. The Mεγαρο Maξίμou is called upon to adapt its strategy to the new data, while there is also the “precedent” of the model Triantopoulos. In this regard, when a prosecutor’s order concerning former Deputy Minister Christos Triantaopoulos arrived in Parliament, he declared that he was ready to be referred to the Judicial Council and announced his resignation from his post. He did so as soon as the decision to set up the Pre-Investigation Committee was taken. The case of Mr Voridis is different in terms of its political size and competent sources say that it will be judged as such, but the content of the case file will be decisive for further decisions.

Government sources, however, did not let PASOK’s firing go unanswered, saying that the problem of subsidies in the country is timeless and that “under its governments, successive scandals centred on agricultural subsidies were recorded”. They even recalled the Yugoslav corn case in the late 1980s that resulted in the imprisonment of former deputy finance minister Nikos Athanasopoulos.