Twenty arrested in Crete including a sitting deputy mayor over €3 million EU farm subsidy fraud

The raids, conducted across Heraklion, Rethymno and Lasithi by Greece's Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, targeted a network that authorities say scanned agricultural land databases for unassigned or unclaimed coordinates before filing fabricated lease agreements and false asset declarations to siphon funds from OPEKEPE, Greece's EU farm payment agency.

Two Rethymno accountants are identified as the alleged organizers of the operation, which began in 2019.

The deputy mayor, who ran one of the three compromised grant processing branches, was described by police as a senior operational figure in the scheme.

All 20 are due to appear before the European Public Prosecutor's Office in Athens on Wednesday.

Citizens Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis said the arrests should not define the broader region.

"We must not confuse things; these select criminal families are being dismantled one by one and sent to prison," Mr. Chrysochoidis said.

The case is the second major EU subsidy fraud prosecution to emerge from Crete in days, following an Athens court's conviction of 13 defendants last week in a separate OPEKEPE fraud case from the Serres region — both brought by the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which is increasingly active in pursuing agricultural subsidy crimes across Greece.