INTIME
Two conservative former ministers have denied, in social media postings Sunday, any involvement in the farm subsidies scandal.
Aides to former Rural Development and Food Minister Spilios Livanos and recently resigned Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Giannis A. Kefalogiannis had been recorded by authorities speaking to the then President f farm aid disbursement agency OPEKEPE about helping farmers get subsidies. The conversations are part of a case file submitted by the independent European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“I neither participated nor could I imagine participating in the commission of any criminal act…I have absolute respect for institutional procedures and the sound judgment of Greek justice,” Livanos said in his post. He added that, as Agriculture Minister, he had instituted procedures that actually prevented fraudulent use of subsidies, saving some €70 million in EU funds in 2021 alone.
Livanos is no longer an MP. He left Parliament in 2023 and, since June 2024, has been Chairman of the Board of HELLENiQ Energy.
Kefalogiannis, an MP from the multi-seat constituency of Rethymno, Crete, said in his post that the case file contains nothing that indicates either his own knowledge or involvement in the case.
“The accusation (against) me is based on the assumption that my former associate, who was talking to the then President of OPEKEPE, was acting on my orders. However, in a case file that numbers thousands of pages, there is not a single conversation of mine, not a single message of mine, not even the slightest reference from which my own knowledge and incitement to commit any offense emerges,” Kefalogiannis said. He further announced he will seek the lifting of his parliamentary immunity, confident that the judicial system will recognize his innocence.
