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.
The political connection was revealed during a parliamentary inquiry into the state payment agency OPEKEPE.
New Democracy MP Makarios Lazaridis identified one of the 15 suspects detained earlier that morning as accountant Giorgos Lambrakis. Mr. Lazaridis then presented the committee with a wedding photograph showing Mr. Androulakis serving as Mr. Lambrakis' best man.
"The State is working," Mr. Lazaridis told lawmakers, countering opposition claims of government inaction regarding the scandal.
PASOK moved swiftly to contain the fallout.
The party’s ethics committee immediately suspended Mr. Lambrakis' membership following a request from party secretary Andreas Spyropoulos.
PASOK MP Milena Apostolaki emphasized the party’s zero-tolerance stance during the hearing. "In the event that even the slightest indication of involvement by a PASOK official emerges, that person will be immediately removed," she said.
Mr. Lambrakis, a director at a local agricultural cooperative, is accused of helping orchestrate a scheme to siphon EU funds through falsified land declarations between 2019 and 2025.
The widening probe has already implicated 42 individuals, including a prominent unionist and a lawyer.