Dozens of people were detained across Greece on Wednesday as part of a sweeping investigation into a multimillion-euro EU farm subsidy scandal that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned could seriously damage the country’s agricultural sector. Police confirmed the arrest of 37 suspects in coordinated operations across Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete, and other regions.

The crackdown followed an October 13 raid by the European Union’s anti-fraud agency, OLAF, on the offices of OPEKEPE, the state body responsible for distributing EU agricultural funds.

The EU probe uncovered widespread misuse of subsidies administered by OPEKEPE, which manages over €3 billion ($3.5 billion) in annual support for around 680,000 farmers. Investigators found striking examples of abuse, including false claims for pastures in archaeological zones, olive trees on a military airfield, and even banana farms on Mount Olympus.

The revelations have placed Mitsotakis under intense pressure, particularly given his family’s long-standing political influence in Crete,  the region believed to have received much of the fraudulent funding.

He has vowed to ensure that those responsible face prison and that the embezzled money is recovered. On Wednesday, the prime minister cautioned that there was a “great danger” that Greece’s EU agricultural funds could be “placed in doubt” if the scandal is not resolved swiftly.

“It is clear that criminal investigations were involved here, taking advantage of state failings to claim money they were not entitled to,” he told Skai Radio. State auditors have already confiscated €22 million from more than 1,000 fraudulent tax accounts, “Whatever the political cost, I am not backing down,” Mitsotakis declared.

Wider context

Analysts and Greek media have attributed the affair to deep-rooted corruption and a patronage system long entrenched in public administration. The fraudulent claims largely stemmed from false declarations of farmland and livestock ownership.

The scheme took shape after a 2014 reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, which shifted subsidy criteria from livestock numbers to land area. Because Greece lacked a comprehensive land registry at the time, property ownership was often uncertain.

Farmers were therefore allowed to declare land elsewhere in the country, a loophole that opportunists, including politically connected non-farmers, quickly exploited for profit. Estimates suggest that genuine farmers were losing about €70 million annually as a result of the scheme.

During a visit to Athens earlier this month, European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi described OPEKEPE as “the acronym for corruption, nepotism and clientelism.”

She told reporters: “For years, criminals, helped by civil servants and high officials, were stealing European money. This money was supposed to help honest, hardworking farmers and their families to cultivate this beautiful land. Not to pay for villas, sports cars, and God knows what else.”

According to OPEKEPE data, roughly 80 percent of pasture-related subsidies distributed between 2017 and 2020 ended up in Crete. Mitsotakis has emphasized that the fraudulent practices, estimated by Greek authorities to total at least €23 million, began in 2016, before he took office in 2019.

The government “has nothing to hide or to fear from such checks,” he said last month, defending the integrity of his administration. He has also maintained that two agriculture ministers appointed under his leadership, both currently under investigation, bear no criminal responsibility.