The Parliament’s Ethics Committee unanimously recommended on Tuesday the lifting of immunity for eleven lawmakers from the ruling New Democracy party whose names appear in a case file submitted by the European prosecutor as part of its investigation into Greece’s farm subsidy scandal.
The MPs are Katerina Papakosta, Kostas A. Karamanlis, Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Panagiotis Mitarakis, Konstantinos Tsiaras, Konstantinos Skrekas, Dimitrios Vartzopoulos, Maximos Senetakis, Vasileios Vasiliadis, Christos Boukoros, and Theofilos Leontaridis.
Only two of them appeared in person, while the others submitted written memoranda regarding the allegations concerning each of them. All eleven had requested the lifting of their immunity.
The recommendation pertaining to the lifting of immunity for the MPs as a result of the farm subsidy scandal is not binding. The final decision will be made by the full Parliament in a roll-call vote, also conducted separately for each of the eleven lawmakers, during a special session expected to take place after April 19.
The case concerns a recent second case file in which the names of the eleven lawmakers are included among those implicated. The investigation centers on an organized fraud scheme targeting EU agricultural funds managed by the Greek payment agency, OPEKEPE. The alleged fraud centers on a sophisticated scheme to siphon off millions in EU agricultural subsidies through the agency.
Related: Greek Farm Fraud: EU Targets 11 MPs and Two Former Ministers
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