Witness testimony begins over farm subsidy scandal

Deputy Minister to the PM Giorgos Mylonakis speaks astatine the parliamentary investigative committee examining the OPEKEPE cultivation subsidy payments scandal. [Intime News]

The parliamentary investigative committee examining the OPEKEPE cultivation subsidy payments ungraded begins witness testimony connected Wednesday, amid fierce absorption accusations of a authorities cover-up.

The committee is entering its third league since formation, but absorption parties denounce what they telephone a “procedural parody” designed to conceal truth astir alleged “blue corruption.” The opposition’s main ailment centers connected New Democracy lawmakers rejecting calls for cardinal witnesses the number considers important to the case.

The witness database was shaped by the ruling party’s proposal, opening with erstwhile OPEKEPE presidents from the existent play backmost to the organization’s 1998 founding.

“The New Democracy bulk again orchestrated a procedural parody tailored to the cover-up it has decided,” said PASOK person Nikos Androulakis. He accused the authorities of treating the state arsenic a “party fiefdom.”

SYRIZA emphasized: “No substance however galore investigative committees New Democracy conducts excluding captious witnesses, the truth tin nary longer beryllium hidden. The OPEKEPE ungraded bears New Democracy’s signature.”

Communist Party typical Maria Komninaka besides called it a “procedural parody,” while Greek Solution’s Kyriakos Velopoulos accused the authorities of wanting to “play butcher” to debar ungraded exposure.

Deputy Minister to the PM Giorgos Mylonakis defended the process, calling for “in-depth investigation” and dismissing absorption claims arsenic “conspiracy theories.”