An appeal court in Thessaloniki upheld on Tuesday the sentences for two men accused of participating in a Giannitsa-based criminal network involved in the illegal acquisition of EU agricultural subsidies from OPEKEPE.
Both suspects received a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for three years, for three misdemeanor counts of attempted fraud against the interests of the European Union.
The case concerns a 39-year-old alleged ring-leader of a multi-member criminal organization and a 55-year-old accountant, both of whom were already in pre-trial detention over the fraud scheme that was revealed last October, following an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Organized Crime Division of Northern Greece.
The case centered on a criminal network accused of illegally obtaining European Union farming subsidies through false declarations submitted to the OPEKEPE farm subsidies agency in 2019 and 2020.
