The alleged head of a network that diverted more than $20 million of European Union farm subsidies has been ordered into pre-trial detention following questioning, the ANA news agency reported Monday.

The 38-year-old man acknowledged his role in the scandal during questioning by prosecutors, the report said.

Thirty-seven people were arrested last week in raids linked to the fake claims for EU Common Agriculture Policy subsidies. Ten have now been ordered held in detention, with more suspects to be questioned Monday.

Prosecutors and Greek authorities say about 20 million euros was fraudulently taken by the network which started operating in about 2018.

The suspects are accused of making subsidy claims for land that they did not own and exaggerating the number of animals on farms. Some people receiving payments had no link to agriculture.

The scandal has led to the resignation of a minister in the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the closure of the OPEKEPE agency that handled the EU subsidies.

Mitsotakis vowed Sunday to fully expose the scandal, even though many of the subsidies went to Crete, which is his power base. “We will not back down, whatever the political cost,” Mitsotakis said.

Source: AFP