XTHES BECAME KNOWN that director of the NGO Human Rights 360 Epaminondas Farmakis he is being investigated by the Anti-Black Money Authority for serious offences, such as embezzling money meant for refugees and migrants, which he denies.
The news about the existence of a finding concerning the director of the NGO (which became known last summer from the case of the 38 of Evros), was published by the site Dikastiko, which deals with matters of justice.
According to its publication yesterday, the Authority’s conclusion describes “a diverse network of Non-Governmental Organizations that deal with immigrants and are connected with each other, with the aim of extorting funds from countries that support (including financially) their action”. It also states that the accounts of the NGO, its director, a loved one and some others have been frozen.
According to the conclusion cited by the publication, a network of cooperating NGOs had been set up to which he channeled sums of money for providing services to his own NGO and at the same time he allegedly collected money from the NGOs he financed.
He also writes that the court’s actions were swift, in order to “block the funding with the amount of 24 million euros that was allegedly approved to be paid to the NGO.”
Farmakis does not deal with the refugee issue as an activist, but as a manager with a special talent for finding resources. He himself comes from an urban and historical family with great wealth and conservative political origins. His name appeared on the famous Lagarde list together with that of his father, Nikolaos Farmakis
For those who don’t remember, HumanRights 360 is the NGO that contacted them 38 refugees forcibly pushed by Turkey to the sand island of the river Evros, blaming Greece and claiming that one child had died from a scorpion sting and another was having fun. HumanRights 360 lawyer at the time Eugenia Kuniaki she was the one who drew up the list of their names and appealed against Greece to the European Court of Human Rights.
She was also the one who together with the partner of the German magazine “Spiegel” met the refugees when they were transferred to Evros Prison, while, as Baida, who declared herself Syrian and appeared as the informal leader of the 38, had told LiFO, her lawyer had asked them not to speak to other journalists.
When the justice investigation began at HumanRights 360 an internal crisis broke out and things started to go wrong. At that time, the cooperation between HumanRights 360 and Mrs. Kuniaki was interrupted and the NGO issued a statement about the erroneous belief that the refugees were on Greek soil.
His close associate and co-founder of Human Rights 360 Eleni Takou (former executive of the Ministry of Immigration Policy under SYRIZA-ANEL), resigned after disagreeing with him. Other NGO workers expressed similar disagreements.
Some of them accused the government of activating the controls as a means of intimidation. A government official, on the other hand, commented that “some NGOs want to curse the government, call it a junta and it gives them millions without anyone checking them”.
In response to the article on the conclusion of the Washing Authority Human Rights 360 denies the accusations and speaks of “numerous inaccuracies and false claims” that distort the facts posted on their website.
“To cite just one indicative example in relation to what the article refers to, Human Rights 360, following a competitive process, was selected by the EEA Grants Financial Mechanism, on February 19, 2019, to act as Grant Administrator of the programs “Local development and poverty reduction” and “Asylum and Migration”, for the time period 2019-2024. Taking on this role is very important for us, because on the one hand it gives us the opportunity to use our many years of expertise in the field and to develop partnerships with both public bodies and Civil Society organizations (international and non-international), and on the other hand it creates valuable experience in financing management, which is a key pillar of the organization”.
Who is Epaminondas Farmakis and Human Rights 360
Let’s see how he presents himself. On the Human Rights 360 site, he highlights his 20 years of experience in Civil Society, stating that he has “distributed and managed donations amounting to 1.1 billion dollars to over 1,300 organizations in 65 countries” and that “he is well-known in the field of non-governmental organizations, both for his administrative acumen and resourcefulness’.
He also states that in the past he has been: “General Manager of SolidarityNow founded by the Open Society Foundations, Director of the EEA Norway Grants NGO Fund in Greece through the Bodosaki Foundation, President and CEO of the Elpis SA Advisory Group, Executive Director of the Stavros Foundation Niarch and Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch”.
As for Human Rights 360, on its website it states that it is supported by Greek and foreign institutions, by large organizations, companies, agencies, and even embassies (Dutch).
HumanRights 360, in collaboration with SOL Crowe, a consultancy, also acts as a grant manager, such as the “Local Development and Poverty Reduction”, “Asylum and Migration” programs, which for the period 2014-2021 allocated funding of 23 million euros . The 16.5 million Asylum and Migration program was allocated “to help ensure legal protection, support and care for the most vulnerable asylum seekers, with a focus on unaccompanied children”.
In an earlier interview, in 2015, to the newspaper “Parapolitika” and to Christos Zampounis, Epaminondas Farmakis, as general manager of Solidarity Now at the time, spoke about the “turnover of illegal immigration” which he estimated at 1.6 billion. Before Solidarity Now, he was executive director at the Niarchos Foundation.
The political profile and social status of Epaminondas Farmakis has nothing to do with what one would expect, according to the stereotypes of refugee activists.
After all, Farmakis does not deal with the refugee issue as an activist, but as a manager with a special talent for finding resources. He himself comes from an urban and historical family with great wealth and conservative political origins. His name also appeared on the famous Lagarde list together with that of his father, Nikolaos Farmakis.
His father was known for his relationship with the Hundred regime and also with the king, because of which, as it is said, he did not become Papadopoulos’ minister, despite the good relationship they had. Nikolaos Farmakis during the period of the Occupation was a member of the pro-monarchist and anti-communist organization “X” and together with other Hittites he is said to have participated in a conflict that had taken place in Solonos against communists.
“I am one of the few who had reservations about Farmakis,” said one of the well-known officials of the refugee NGOs with links to the left after his statement about Evros. “However, at the job he does he is probably the best. In gathering resources and finding networks”.
