The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) announced on Thursday morning that it had brought criminal charges against 22 defendants in connection with the OPEKEPE case, including four sitting members of the Hellenic Parliament.

Several MPs who are being investigated in the framework of the OPEKEPE case file, and whose parliamentary immunity has been lifted, found themselves facing what is formally a serious but procedurally flawed issue. This is because they received a summons from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office to submit written explanations by May 22, but saw that they were being treated as facing felony charges, while most are actually being investigated for misdemeanours.

The opposition PASOK party has suspended a local official and best man to party leader Nikos Androulakis, hours after his arrest in Crete as part of a crackdown on a €1.7 million agricultural subsidy fraud ring.