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[Panagiotis Pragiannis\/InTime News]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
European Chief Prosecutor Laura K\u03bfvesi urged Greek authorities Thursday to renew the mandate of members of her team in Athens handling a massive European Union farm subsidy fraud case, and defended their request to lift lawmakers\u2019 immunity from prosecution on the case.<\/p>\n
Kovesi also backed Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis\u2019 appeal for the investigation to proceed as fast as possible \u2013 while pointing out the paucity of resources at its disposal \u2013 and voiced satisfaction with the government\u2019s pledge to provide extra staff to assist the probe by the European Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
Kovesi, whose seven-year term ends this year, said any disagreements on whether to renew the prosecutors\u2019 mandate could be settled at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. But she argued that nobody should have an interest in not keeping on the prosecutors handling the subsidy fraud case \u2013 named after the former OPEKEPE state agency that handled farm subsidies \u2013 and the fatal 2023 Tempe train crash that killed 57 people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to say that these two colleagues who worked for EPPO did an outstanding job,\u201d she added, speaking at the annual Delphi Economic Forum. \u201cWhat is the reason to not renew their mandate? \u2026 Who has an interest to take out these prosecutors from the cases, from the EPPO while they did an outstanding job?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kovesi also strongly rejected criticism from some Greek politicians over the EPPO\u2019s decision to request the lifting of governing New Democracy lawmakers\u2019 immunity from prosecution in three installments, instead of doing it all in one go.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main topic here it\u2019s about what really happened in OPEKEPE,\u201d she said, describing the now-defunct agency as \u201can acronym for corruption, nepotism and clientelism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked to comment on some ND lawmakers\u2019 arguments that they are being investigated for simply forwarding the concerns of their constituents, Kovesi was uncompromising.<\/p>\n
\u201cCorruption, abuse of power, fraud, trading of influence \u2026 are defined as a crime in the Greek law,\u201d she said. \u201cOkay? So no one in the world will convince me that these categories are part of [the] job description of politicians here in Greece or somewhere in the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, asked whether asked whether she felt the EPPO was being antagonized by Greece\u2019s government, authorities or politicians, Kovesi replied: \u201cI don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n
And she agreed with Mitsotakis\u2019 call for a fast-tracking of the probe involving politicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s right,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to finish this investigation very fast because there is a high expectation for the public to clarify what happened. But everyone has to understand that we are humans.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUp to now, in this investigation, we have only one police officer who worked with our two prosecutors, three people, who [have] to assess thousands of documents. They have to listen to hundreds of wiretappings. It\u2019s not easy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But Kovesi hailed her \u201cvery good\u201d meetings Wednesday with government officials who she said agreed to provide the EPPO with more staff for the investigation.<\/p>\n
She added that no country could be defined as free of corruption and it was encouraging that cases are being investigated rather than being swept under the carpet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year we have double the new cases registered in Greece because a lot of citizens sent complaints to us,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a good sign. They trust in what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n