OPEKEPE: How the criminal organisation in Crete operated

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The Hellenic Police announcement on the criminal organisation embezzling OPEKEPE funds in Crete.

ΘΟΔΩΡΗΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΤΙΔΗΣ
13 Δεκεμβρίου 2025 13:23

A criminal organisation was dismantled by the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime. Its members had been involved, on a professional and repeated basis, in committing the felony of fraud against the financial interests of the European Union and the national economy, unlawfully obtaining subsidies from the Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid (OPEKEPE) through false declarations in the Single Aid Applications (SAAs) for the illegal receipt of agricultural subsidies.

Among those involved were accountants, a lawyer, several farmers, while the principal ringleader was a well-known agricultural trade unionist in the area and president of an agricultural cooperative.

The chief accountant of an agricultural cooperative and his wife, a lawyer, are godparents with a political figure, while the agricultural trade unionist had his mother-in-law submit the applications and found individuals to whom he indicated which plots of land they should declare.

These individuals received the advance payments, while he collected the subsidies. They even went so far as to declare non-existent plots of land, including plots belonging to people who had already died.

The total amount of money they received was €1,700,000.

To dismantle the organisation, a coordinated police operation was carried out in the morning hours of Friday, 12 December, in various areas of Crete by officers of the Subdirectorate for Financial Crime Investigation of the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (DAOE), with the assistance of officers from the Department for Combating Organised Crime of Crete, as well as OPKE units from the Subdirectorate for Crime Investigation and Detection of Heraklion and the Subdirectorate for Crime Investigation and Detection of Samos.

In this context, 16 members of the organisation were arrested, including its leaders. In the case file that was compiled for — as applicable — forming a criminal organisation, fraud related to subsidies, obtaining false certification, prevention and suppression of proceeds from criminal activities, as well as violations of legislation on sworn statements, an additional 26 natural persons are also included. Furthermore, one more individual, who died in 2024, was also a member of the criminal group.

A relevant prosecutorial order for the conduct of a preliminary investigation had preceded this, with the period of the illegal acts spanning from 2019 to 2025. The investigation found that the activities of the ring continued up to the present day, using the same methodology, the same leadership members and pursuing the same objective.

From the study, processing and combined analysis of all the pre-trial investigation material, the establishment and operation of a criminal organisation emerged, with a structured hierarchy and distinct roles. Its members acted jointly, engaging in the commission of felony fraud across the entire country, seeking to obtain unlawful financial gain.

As regards the modus operandi, the members of the organisation:

Submitted false Single Aid Applications (SAAs) to OPEKEPE.

Declared plots of land — owned, leased or inherited from deceased persons — without evidence of lawful possession.
Recruited new members with ease, due to the participation of core members in agricultural cooperatives and in Declaration Reception Centres (KYDs).
Recorded land parcels in E9 tax declarations that had been declared in their applications and were far from their place of residence, while these parcels were deleted from the declarations after a short period of time.

Declared common purported lessors or deceased owners of agricultural plots.

In their false applications, declared bank accounts that did not belong to the applicants but to the leadership or core members of the criminal group.
Declared livestock holdings that were not actually held, either in whole or in part.

In order to avoid detection by law enforcement authorities, they exploited the specialised knowledge of their members, procedural loopholes and their participation in corporate schemes within the agricultural sector.

Members of the group were employed at four Declaration Reception Centres, contributing to the registration and finalisation of the relevant Single Aid Applications (SAAs), which are estimated at 143 for the years 2019–2025. At the same time, individuals with accounting expertise facilitated the activities of the criminal group.

Furthermore, analysis carried out by the above service identified 11 bank accounts whose beneficiaries were persons different from the natural persons who had submitted applications for financial aid, including the deceased individual. It is noteworthy that the bank account of this deceased person showed financial activity (credits and withdrawals) even after the account holder’s death.

During searches carried out at residences, a Declaration Reception Centre (KYD), an accounting office and vehicles, the following were found and seized, among other items: