‘It’s my duty to speak out’

‘I person ne'er been successful the wont of commenting connected what politicians say, but the information is that successful these two cases – the Tempe train clang and OPEKEPE – we were dealing with a situation that blocked our investigation,’ says Laura Kovesi, seen present astatine a property league past Thursday astatine a Piraeus larboard customs bureau successful Perama. [Orestes Panagiotou/AMNA]

The Piraeus Port customs bureau successful Perama is not accustomed to receiving distinguished guests – lone shipping containers. However, the show of dozens of journalists and cameras gathered there aboriginal Thursday greeting was reminiscent of a soccer star’s accomplishment astatine the airport. European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kovesi’s beingness successful Athens has taken connected astir mythical proportions successful Greece, some among friends and foes. Those who are acrophobic astir the regularisation of instrumentality and corruption spot her arsenic a savior; others view her with suspicion, arsenic a meddler interfering successful interior governmental affairs. Tact is not her style. With her scathing remarks, she manages to electrify some camps – supporters and critics.

‘What I liked successful Greece is the information that aft we opened the investigation, the citizens started to trust our work. Maybe we showed them that the instrumentality is adjacent for everybody’

Kovesi says she is accustomed to being the halfway of attraction and making headlines. She recalls that this has been the lawsuit since the opening of her career, when she was attacked by the authorities successful her location country, Romania, for trying to exposure corruption scandals. “I got bully training successful Romania with this. I person been criticized for being too governmental successful different member-states also. This is thing new. Only the tyrants are loved everywhere,” she says successful an exclusive interrogation with Kathimerini.

“I’m a authoritative and I speak similar a prosecutor, but everyone has to understand that when we spot definite developments successful our investigations, when we spot the nationalist authorities that is not according to the EU legislation, it’s our work to awesome if we person problems successful the investigation.”

Being liked is not what she’s after. “What I liked successful Greece is the information that aft we opened the investigation, the citizens started to trust our work. Maybe we showed them that the instrumentality is adjacent for everybody and we are trying very hard to bash this. Obviously, we cannot solve each the issues, but astatine slightest we try very hard, we person courageousness and when we person the accidental to investigate, we bash it fully.

“As a prosecutor, you cannot beryllium loved by everyone. First, I don’t want to beryllium loved by criminals. It’s normal. But if the honorable citizens respect and trust us, this is our main goal,” she says. There is 1 story astir her, however, that she’s anxious to debunk: “That I don’t portion java successful the morning, but I portion the tears of corrupt people. Sometimes I portion coffee.”

The main intent of her latest visit to Athens was to publicize the “Calypso” investigation, the monolithic European Public Prosecutor’s Office’s cognition to combat smuggling from China, the largest of its benignant to date. The archetypal program was to clasp the property league adjacent to the thousands of containers that person been seized. The rain, however, forced the property league to beryllium moved wrong the customs building, into a constrictive corridor that was alternatively unsuitable for the assemblage that had gathered.

Kovesi is perpetually surrounded by a small radical of associates: the caput of the Strategy and Executive Office Unit of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), Milan Jaron, the European delegated authoritative and caput of investigations successful Greece, Nikolaos Paschalis, her communications serviceman Tine Hollevoet, and two information guards.

Reinforcing the bureau

Kovesi says that during her meetings with the applicable Greek ministers and officials successful Athens past week, she received assurances from the authorities that the European Prosecutor’s Office subdivision successful the Greek superior would beryllium strengthened with much prosecutors and much experts to assistance successful investigations, from some customs and the police. She besides received assurances that the authorities aims to proceed with the indispensable changes to Article 86 of the Constitution connected the transgression liability of ministers. “I was told that the authorities supports it. We’ll spot what happens,” she says, shrugging her shoulders and smiling.

“I person ne'er been successful the wont of commenting connected what politicians say, but the information is that successful these two cases – the Tempe train clang [in 2023, successful which 57 radical died] and OPEKEPE [scandal involving the use of EU cultivation funds] – we were dealing with a situation that blocked our investigation,” she says. “This doesn’t mean that I’m a politician; I’m a authoritative who thinks that thing tin stop a transgression probe from going until the end.”

She says that she whitethorn person been connected the receiving extremity of galore threats, she does not speak astir them publicly. She is, however, arrogant of her team successful Athens and what it has achieved, contempt what she describes arsenic intimidation attempts. She calls connected the governments she works with not to view the European Public Prosecutor’s Office arsenic a overseas auditor, but alternatively arsenic an ally, and reminds them that the wealth seized from investigations ultimately goes to the state budget.

OPEKEPE

Commenting connected the ungraded involving cultivation subsidies, Kovesi says OPEKEPE has go “an acronym for corruption, nepotism and clientelism,” but stresses that European farming funds person go a target for corruption rings passim Europe.

“We person noticed fraud with the subsidies successful astir each the member-states; the quality is however overmuch and however galore cases we have,” she says. “In Greece we discovered that the way the transgression enactment was committed was very systematic and very well organized, with the engagement of somehow precocious officials.”

As she explains, this is simply a lawsuit that began to beryllium investigated when the EPPO was created. “Initially we were investigating small cases involving antithetic farmers, until we realized that it’s something systemic. This was not wide from the beginning. So it was a infinitesimal when we tackled this arsenic a single investigation. We tried to enactment together much cases, but it’s still very difficult, due to the fact that we person thousands of radical under probe and we person lone 10 prosecutors, and they person different cases arsenic well. This takes time.”