EU prosecutors Thursday indicted 22 people, including four ruling party lawmakers, over a multimillion-euro European Union farm subsidy fraud scandal that has shaken the government.
The European Prosecutor's Office said the indicted defendants included "several former high-ranking public officials and political staff" involved in an alleged organized fraud scheme using agricultural funds.
Prosecutors estimated the bloc's losses from the alleged scheme at more than 19.6 million euros (about $20.9 million), while Greek authorities last year put damages at at least 23 million euros.
The scandal has led to the resignation of several Greek government ministers and other officials.
Those indicted include a former political secretary of the ruling New Democracy and several former officials of the state agency distributing the subsidies, OPEKEPE, including a former chairman.
Among the lawmakers, accusations include "instigation to commit abuse of trust, instigation to unlawful management of EU funds, and instigation to false attestation and attempted computer fraud," the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) said.
The lawmakers are under investigation for allegedly enabling dozens of private individuals to make subsidy claims for land they did not own and exaggerating the number of animals on farms.
Most subsidies went to Crete
An EPPO statement said evidence "indicates, among other things, unlawful interventions in administrative and inspection procedures, retrospective alterations of data following the completion of mandatory controls, unlawful interference with on-the-spot inspections, the concealment and manipulation of inspection findings, and false certifications."
Some people receiving payments had no link to agriculture.
Most of the fraudulent subsidies went to Crete.
The case has piled pressure on conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose family has been politically influential in Crete for more than a century.
If found guilty, the defendants face jail terms of up to five years and fines.
The EPPO dismissed allegations against seven other lawmakers and two former lawmakers due to lack of evidence, while three former lawmakers remain under investigation.
Mitsotakis on Thursday focused on the MPs no longer under investigation, three ministers forced to resign when their investigation was announced.
He criticized the EPPO, saying it "seems to be getting involved in domestic party competition" ahead of an election year.
"Who is going to apologize today for this wretchedness," that saw "honorable politicians" smeared," the prime minister told a government meeting, his office said.
Greece will hold elections next year. Mitsotakis's party leads in opinion polls but is not expected to secure an absolute majority.
'Thieves'
The alleged scheme started after the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy began calculating subsidies based on land instead of livestock in 2014.
An incomplete land registry at the time made ownership unclear across much of Greece, allowing farmers to declare land owned elsewhere in the country to claim subsidies.
According to OPEKEPE, about 80% of subsidies for pastures granted between 2017 and 2020 ended up in Crete.
While the number of livestock farmers in Greece is decreasing, OPEKEPE registered 13,000 new farmers in Crete between 2019 and 2025. The number of declared sheep and goats doubled over the same period.
Investigators found cases including pastures declared on archaeological sites, olive trees in a military airport and banana plantations on Mount Olympus.
Mitsotakis, who noted the fraud began before he came to power in 2019, has vowed to imprison the "thieves" responsible and reclaim the funds.