Vivi Tycheropoulou’s uphill battle with graft in OPEKEPE

When she started working astatine the Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid (OPEKEPE) 24 years ago, she didn’t expect to find herself successful the vortex of a high-profile, European-scale scandal.

Paraskevi (Vivi) Tycheropoulou, an inspector astatine the disgraced bureau liable for distributing European farming subsidies, and the cardinal witness successful the ongoing probe by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), was among the archetypal officials astatine OPEKEPE to announcement discrepancies successful payments and uncover however the analyzable strategy was acceptable up.

When she blew the whistle and began to get a voice done judicial rulings and probes, she recovered she was up against an full system – she was demoted, threatened, sued and slandered – but she did not backmost down. She has received some vindication from the revelations of the EPPO, but still faces a agelong combat for afloat motivation restitution. In the meantime, however, the connection to anyone adjacent thinking astir pursuing her pb has been sent, large and clear: Interference comes astatine a price.

Disdain

Tycheropoulou grew up successful Elefsina, an concern town west of Athens and 1 of Attica’s poorest, and studied harvest subject astatine a technical assemblage (TEI) successful Crete. Her deficiency of “respectable” world credentials is still held against her, she says, and has often been used arsenic an excuse to chopped her down within OPEKEPE. The bureau seems to person mislaid the memo informing it that technical assemblage degrees person been adjacent to university degrees for years. Her opponents besides look to place the information that she went connected to unafraid a assistance from the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY) and did a postgraduate grade successful works biotechnology astatine the University of Reading successful the UK.

As she was finishing her studies, Tycheropoulou saw an opening astatine OPEKEPE while looking astatine occupation postings connected the ιστότοπος of ASEP, the nationalist sector’s recruitment agency. She didn’t cognize overmuch astir what OPEKEPE did, but she applied for the occupation nevertheless. Her professors successful England thought she would find the work successful a nationalist enactment dull, but she wanted to instrumentality to Greece. She took up the station successful October 2002 with each the enthusiasm of a young postgraduate who believes that hard work and diligence will beryllium rewarded. She had different happening coming. It was evident from the onset that OPEKEPE was tally by cliques, but this became adjacent much evident when she applied for a higher presumption successful 2011 and was rejected. Nevertheless, she recovered restitution successful her work. The organization’s interior workings – its outgo and audit procedures – intrigued her. Her colleagues thought her nosy and annoying.

She besides took an involvement successful workers’ rights and joined SYRIZA’s union successful the Agriculture Ministry. When the leftist enactment was elected to authorities successful 2015, Tycheropoulou believed OPEKEPE would alteration its ways and run successful a much “meritocratic” manner. She was wrong. In the meantime, she had already started looking into the subsidy organisation system and noticed that something was awry. Seeing that thing was being done under SYRIZA to alteration things, she gave up connected unionism and says she has not maintained immoderate enactment affiliations since.

Grigoris Varras was appointed to caput OEPEKPE successful 2019 and was the archetypal president successful a decennary to behaviour evaluations within the organization. Spurred by complaints from Grigoris Kalliouris, an worker of the agency’s Crete Directorate, astir nonexistent livestock and grazing land, arsenic well arsenic the bare-faced threats Tycheropoulou was receiving, helium decided to initiate inspections. What helium recovered was that helium could not trust connected the organization’s ain auditors. 

The recommendations helium received contradicted his ain findings, so helium chose to turn to individuals extracurricular the system. Tycheropoulou’s supervisor astatine the clip recommended her for the presumption of lawman manager successful the Audit Directorate. Many elder officials within OPEKEPE voiced their opposition. They claimed she was not susceptible and, successful immoderate case, that she had antecedently been affiliated with SYRIZA.

Suspect tax numbers

Tycheropoulou was formally notified successful September 2020 that, by determination of the president, she would enactment successful the audit committee for the nationalist reserve subsidies. Attached was an Excel record listing 99 tax recognition numbers (AFMs) for review. As she began looking into them, she discovered that grazing onshore was being declared successful locations acold from the beneficiaries’ oregon owners’ base, and that these individuals were rotating each year, with the aforesaid plots of onshore repeatedly changing hands. At first, she thought it mightiness beryllium a coincidence, but she σύντομα noticed a recurring signifier involving specific families.

That’s when she realized that the occupation originated from wrong the enactment itself, from its audit procedures. Meanwhile, unit for her to permission the committee was mounting. Varras remained steadfast that she should not step down, but further members were brought in, expanding the committee to 11. The AFMs were divided among 9 members, with instructions to transportation retired lone superficial checks – verifying simply whether a lease statement existed, without immoderate cross-checking implicit erstwhile years.

But Tycheropoulou had already inspected the 99 suspect AFMs and compiled a study with her findings. She co-signed the committee’s conclusions, emphasizing that the subsidies should not beryllium paid out, and submitted her ain study to the president successful a sealed envelope.

In this report, Tycheropoulou described however audits were being conducted, the circular leasing practices and the information that the cases had already been ostensibly reviewed by the Crete subdivision without immoderate irregularities being identified. She referred to a clime of fear, saying that unit was being exerted connected bureau employees and they were unwilling to speak out. Subsidy applicants knew precisely however the audits were carried retired and were, therefore, easy capable to bypass the system. She described the mechanics arsenic “systemic fraud,” saying that individuals astatine various levels were exerting unit and noting that the findings were so blatant that nary auditor could reasonably person overlooked them. She besides questioned however such experienced staff within OPEKEPE failed to observe these issues.

‘First blood’

Varras widened the scope of the investigation, sparking a war successful OPEKEPE’s Athens headquarters. In mid-October 2020, Tycheropoulou went to Kea, 1 of the Cycladic islands closest to Athens, to verify whether three livestock farmers from faraway Crete really possessed the immense tracts of grazing onshore they had declared there. She discovered that the reported plots were successful information full mountains, intolerable to beryllium to conscionable 1 oregon two tax recognition numbers oregon to suffice arsenic grazing land. The grounds of the mendacious declarations was compiled and the lawsuit record was forwarded to a prosecutor. This was the archetypal OPEKEPE lawsuit to effect successful a unanimous condemnation astatine the archetypal instance, successful 2024.

In precocious October 2020, Varras appointed Tycheropoulou to caput the section of “unduly paid funds.” Within a week of doing so, helium was forced to resign, though not earlier referring three much cases to the courts; Tycheropoulou was a witness successful each three.

In March 2022, OPEKEPE’s then president, Dimitris Melas, transferred Tycheropoulou to a antithetic department, where she nary longer had entree to accusation concerning whether the payments she had blocked were being made. In the meantime, Giorgos Georgantas had stepped successful astatine the Ministry of Rural Development. He expanded the probe into the declared pasturelands, blocked much than 2,000 AFMs from receiving subsidies and demanded Melas’ resignation. Tycheropoulou, for her part, was frustrated successful her caller station and had embarked connected a doctorate astatine the University of Thessaly.

In July 2022, however, OPEKEPE got a caller president, Evangelos Simandrakos, who enactment her successful complaint of the Direct Payments Department. That gave her entree to the information erstwhile again. Together with respective colleagues, she developed profiles of each beneficiary who, since 2018, had improperly obtained grazing onshore entitlements. This led to the suspension of 5,400 tax recognition numbers.

Then Lefteris Avgenakis and Kyriakos Babasidis stepped into the enactment of the ministry and OPEKEPE, respectively.

The unit to merchandise the payments became overwhelming. One of the suspect livestock farmers, Giorgos Xylouris, besides known by the nickname “Frappe,” recovered Tycheropoulou’s backstage fig and called her house, where helium spoke to her children. According to the lawsuit file, helium besides openly threatened Tycheropoulou during a speech with a high-ranking authoritative astatine the Rural Development Ministry. “Honestly, if I’d killed her, I’d beryllium retired by now,” helium is alleged to person said. The situation went adjacent much disconnected the rails aft the 2024 convictions implicit the Kea case.

Locked cabinet

Tycheropoulou learned that she’d been ousted from her station from colleagues. Babasidis had adjacent announced her ouster connected the nationalist sector’s Diavgeia website, citing “professional inadequacy.” She was prevented from going to her bureau and the record furniture where she kept important documents was locked. Babasidis accused her of hiding documents and when a bailiff was yet summoned to unfastened the cabinet, helium said the fastener had been forced. She still hasn’t been capable to retrieve the drawings fixed to her by her children that she kept there.

Meanwhile, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, with which she continues to work intimately connected its investigations of OPEKEPE, had requested her temporary transfer backmost successful July 2024. The petition was approved by Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis, but it besides required the signature of the caller agriculture minister, Kostas Tsiaras. It was sent to his bureau successful September 2024. Tycheropoulou met with him, and helium asked why she wasn’t looking for a occupation abroad. “Because I emotion my country,” she replied. She besides asked that the determination posted connected the Diavgeia level deriding her nonrecreational show beryllium withdrawn. Tsiaras replied that signing the transfer would efficaciously magnitude to vindicating her.

In the end, the exertion stayed connected his table for months, until the adjacent president of OPEKEPE, Nikos Salatas, formally raised objections, forcing the EPPO to withdraw the request. This unfulfilled ministerial committedness is what hardened Tycheropoulou’s resolve.

She says she believes successful Mahatma Gandhi’s maxim that if you stay faithful to the truth, justness will sooner oregon aboriginal prevail. Her archetypal vindication came past week, when the Single-Member Court of First Instance of Athens annulled the determination of the Babasidis tenure. It ruled that her removal was unlawful, abusive and vindictive, prompted by actions that were not to the leadership’s liking. It besides ordered that she beryllium restored to the station of manager of interior auditing – with a fiscal punishment of €100 for each time of noncompliance – the restoration of her mislaid wages, and the outgo of compensation for motivation damages, on with sum of her ineligible expenses.

Still successful the cold

Nevertheless, when OPEKEPE was relaunched by the authorities pursuing the revelation of the scandal, Tycheropoulou was not included connected the staff. The directive to this extremity was signed by Giorgos Pitsilis, the politician of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE). On March 26 – arsenic the court’s determination was conscionable astir to beryllium announced – a determination was published successful the Government Gazette stipulating that directors of OPEKEPE, which is present portion of the AADE’s General Directorate (GDELEP), indispensable person a grade from a university, not a technical assemblage (even if it is supplemented by postgraduate qualifications).

Tycheropoulou still faces two disciplinary proceedings and 1 transgression ailment filed by Babasidis – she had already been penalized with nonaccomplishment of wage successful the archetypal disciplinary lawsuit – arsenic well arsenic 1 disciplinary proceeding and 1 transgression ailment filed by Salatas. As for her colleagues who did not support her, Tycheropoulou says she understands them, but does not excuse them. In immoderate case, repeated efforts by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office to find different adept witnesses to work with within the enactment person travel to nothing.

The connection astir the risks of “interference” has intelligibly taken hold. The deterrent effect has worked – nary substance its toll connected justice.

AADE’s response

Asked to comment, AADE said the exclusion of those with technical acquisition had already been foreseen since December 2025, when the work for cultivation subsidies was transferred to it. Specifically, it was established that the wide directorate and the directorates of the cardinal work of the caller General Directorate for Audits, Subsidies and Payments (GDELEP) would beryllium headed by employees successful the University Education (PE) category, arsenic stipulated successful Article 75 of AADE’s organizational model for each directorates of its cardinal services.

Subsequently, with the March decision, eligibility for these positions was expanded beyond AADE staff to see each employees of the cardinal authorities administration, who are present besides allowed to use for positions arsenic heads of directorates oregon sub-directorates. The purpose is to pull imaginable candidates from crossed the nationalist sector, with a view to strengthening meritocracy and the authority’s effectiveness successful a assemblage that was lone precocious transferred to AADE and for which, arsenic the authorization emphasizes, it is looking for specialized expertise.