Greek authorities are preparing further arrests in a major European Union farm subsidy fraud case after taking 15 suspects into custody last week, the minister of citizen protection said Monday.
Michalis Chrysochoidis said investigators have seized 33 million euros ($34.7 million) in illegally obtained subsidies. Those arrested include an agricultural union official and the president of a farming cooperative in Archanes, in Crete’s Iraklio region, whom police identified as the ringleader of the alleged scheme.
Chrysochoidis said judicial proceedings have already begun for two suspects, who will “very soon be referred to the Prosecutor.”
The arrests follow an October crackdown in which authorities detained 37 members of an organized criminal group accused of defrauding the EU’s agricultural subsidy system of more than 19.6 million euros ($22.7 million). The European Public Prosecutor’s Office said the group, active since at least 2018, exploited loopholes in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy by claiming subsidies for land and livestock that did not exist or failed to meet eligibility rules.
