Greek police arrest dozens in raids over EU farm subsidies scandal

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ATHENS (Reuters) -Greek police arrested dozens of people across the country on Wednesday as part of an investigation into a scandal in which farmers faked land and livestock ownership to receive EU agricultural subsidies.

The case emerged when European prosecutors said this year they had found evidence that farmers and state officials have defrauded the European Union of subsidies, at least since 2019.

The case has rocked Greece and a parliamentary committee has launched a probe into the government agency OPEKEPE, which handles farm subsidies and distributes 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion) in aid annually to hundreds of thousands of farmers.

Thirty-seven people have been detained, police officials said on Wednesday, adding that most of them were not farmers and among the suspects were private sector employees.

Police estimate that the alleged ring received 20 million euros in subsidies in 2018-2022 and that about half of the financial aid was obtained illegally.

The raids and searches on Wednesday were coordinated with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which is investigating crimes against the financial interests of the EU and has been looking into the Greek case in recent years.

Greek police have also launched a separate investigation and some of the suspects were identified in both probes.

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(Reporting by Yannis Souliotis; Writing by Renee Maltezou, Editing by Ed Osmond)