Koutsoumbas: The OPEKEPE scandal bears the government's signature

"The OPEKEPE scandal bears the government's signature," Communist Party of Greece General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas said on Tuesday in Parliament, during the plenary debate to decide on setting up a Parliamentary Investigation Committee to look into the payment organisation's operations since its foundation to the present day.

"You can begin the investigation from the 'time of Noah'... the only thing you will succeed in doing is to confirm is that the soil on which this foul industry of illegality, favouritism, clientelist relations, and political barter was able to grow—especially during your own time in power—was laid on the foundation of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, which has been implemented by all governments," Koutsoumbas remarked.

He also noted that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is not exempt from the responsibilities of previous ND governments, as he was part of them.

"The government was well aware of the paths of corruption involving pastures, the national reserve, the so-called 'technical solution', and the vote-seeking practices enabled by policy choices in the granting of subsidies through OPEKEPE," he added.

Koutsoumbas said that "everything described in the case file submitted to Parliament reveals that the ND government bears full responsibility for the scandal."