Details of the operation of the network that was collecting illegal subsidies from OPEKEPE in Kozani and Agrinio are revealed in a statement by the Hellenic Police regarding the new operation under the code name “Harvest,” carried out yesterday, Wednesday.

In total, 14 individuals were arrested, including the leader and the executive coordinator of the criminal organisation, who are accused of illegally obtaining €2.5 million in subsidies, while the investigation also uncovered tax violations amounting to €2.7 million.

The case file also includes 23 additional individuals as well as four legal entities.

According to the Hellenic Police statement, “in order to achieve their goal, the members of the criminal organisation operated within a common geographical core, had family and professional ties among them, selected the same interconnected Centres for Submission of Applications (K.Y.D.), submitted applications with identical data (submission dates, common K.Y.D.s, alleged lessors, etc.), participated in legal entities with an executive–legal representative being the coordinator, and maintained a mutual declaratory relationship of fictitious lessors.”

It is noted that the case file was formed for – depending on the case – participation in a criminal organisation, fraud related to subsidies on a professional and repeated basis, violations of weapons legislation and false declarations law, as well as money laundering.

They declared public land

The organisation’s activity began in 2019 and continued until at least 2024. Its main “tool” was false declarations claiming that they cultivated or exploited land plots as privately owned or leased.

However, the investigation found that a large part of the declared land did not belong to the members of the network; instead, it belonged to public bodies, local government organisations, state services, renewable energy companies, private businesses, and other entities.

At the same time, as clarified by the police, members of the organisation were fictitiously presented as lessors of farmland to third-party applicants, even though the land did not belong to them.

How they covered their tracks

At the same time, members of the criminal organisation ensured that the illegally declared land was distributed among a large number of individuals and that different applications were submitted, in order to maximise their illicit profits and make the authorities’ work more difficult.

In the same logic, they used individuals connected to Centres for Submission of Applications (K.Y.D.), and the network used more than one K.Y.D., “alternating their use year by year,” making it harder to trace the common origin of the fraudulent applications.

The role of K.Y.D.s and cooperatives

As emerged, two K.Y.D. employees had a coordinating role, while also submitting their own false applications to OPEKEPE.

In parallel, using four legal entities and cooperatives, the organisation recruited new members, sought beneficiaries, and concealed the true extent of the network by creating a seemingly legitimate business environment around the individuals involved.

The investigation into bank accounts also revealed that in at least six cases, the illegally granted subsidies were deposited into accounts in which the leader of the network appeared as a co-beneficiary. From the transactions examined, it emerged that he either withdrew the money himself or transferred it to other accounts linked to him, confirming his central role in managing the illegal subsidies.

4–6–2026: Operation “HARVEST”

In total, searches carried out in homes, vehicles, legal entities, and K.Y.D. offices, with the assistance of police officers from Kozani, led to the seizure of:

• €16,820
• 5 gold sovereigns
• numerous related documents
• multiple bank cards
• mobile phones
• external storage device (USB)
• handwritten notes
• stamps, including a forged one with a non-existent tax ID number
• bank passbooks
• 2 hunting rifles

During the searches, the following were also found:

• 14 cannabis plants
• 147.3 grams of raw cannabis
• a jar containing 60.1 grams of cannabis
• a metal grinder containing cannabis residue

Regarding the narcotics, a relative of one of the arrested individuals was also detained and a separate case file was formed for violations of drug legislation.