Greek farmers say they face massive funding hole after land scandal

ATHENS (Reuters) -Greek farmers face a 600 million euro ($700 million) shortfall in EU aid and other payments after a corruption scandal in which some farmers, aided by state employees, faked land ownership, their unions said during protests in Athens on Tuesday.

The EU in June imposed a 392 million-euro fine on Greece over the misuse of EU funds in which some Greek farmers faked pastureland ownership to receive EU aid. EU prosecutors are investigating potential crimes. 

The ongoing audits following the scandal and the overhaul of OPEKEPE, the government agency at the heart of the controversy, have slowed disbursements since, the farmers said. Dozens of them marched in Athens on Tuesday demanding payments.

"We have no cash flows right now to cultivate and bank and other debt is overdue," Rizos Maroudas, head of the farmers' union from the agricultural city of Larissa, in central Greece, told Reuters. 

He said the government should have paid 660 million euros, some of it EU funds, to farmers and stock breeders in June through several schemes, but has disbursed just 50 million euros so far. 

A government official acknowledged the backlog and confirmed that it was due to delays in payments amid investigations since the scandal emerged. A government minister said in September that farmers had misappropriated EU agricultural subsidies worth more than 22 million euros over five years by faking land ownership.

The delays come at a time when Greek farmers are also struggling with an outbreak of sheeppox which has led to hundreds of thousands of sheep and goats being culled.

Maroudas said farmers from across Greece will convene in Larissa this month to decide on further action, including blocking national highways with their tractors.

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

(Reporting by Tania Turner and Stamos Prousalis, Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Edward McAllister and Ros Russell)