Tsoukalas: Farmers could see subsidies reduced because of OPEKEPE scandal

Main opposition PASOK-Movement for Change will be ready to submit its proposal for a Parliamentary Preliminary Investigation Committee regarding the OPEKEPE affair at the end of next week, party press spokesperson Kostas Tsoukalas said on Friday, talking to radio Real FM.
He said this would be done as quickly as possible, as PASOK-KINAL had already stressed the risk that the offences might become statute-barred, adding that the party does not agree to "fast-track" processes and wanted a thorough investigation and discussion in Parliament, as provided by the Constitution.
Once the processes ensuring that the offences are not statute barred have been initiated, he added, PASOK wanted early elections. "If the prime minister gets up tomorrow and asks for elections, it will be tantamount to cnfessing that he wants the matter closed by the offences becoming statute-barred. Our demand is clear: We have two to three months before us in which to complete the proceedings and then to call elections," he added.
Regarding the plan to recover the money wrongfully paid out as subsidies, Androulakis pointed out the difficulties, especially the fact that the tax registration numbers did not always correspond to the actual recipients of the money but were acting as a "front". "This means that the assets of these individuals may not cover the illegal sums making it hard to collect the money."
"As the case file mentions, what is outlined here is a criminal organisation. Therefore, the issue is not just what happened and who profited but that, with New Democracy's policies, the farming sector of the country is entering memorandums," he said, expressing fears that this may lead to a reduction in subsidies that may lead some honest farmers to bankruptcy.
"This bears the stamp of New Democracy. The government has cast the country in the mire with all these scandals. The country must get out of the mire. This can only happen with political change," he stressed.