Former Competition Commission member Panayiotis Adamopoulos has initiated legal proceedings against two senior executives of dairy producer MEVGAL, accusing them of perjury, fraud and making false accusations against him.

Adamopoulos is accusing MEVGAL president Petros Papadakis and managing director Dimitris Simeonidis of targeting him with a false story of blackmail.

The former Competition Commission official was remanded in custody in September last year after being accused of colluding with two other men to receive a 2.5-million-euro bribe from MEVGAL so the watchdog would not fine the company.

Adamopoulos claims that Papadakis and Simeonidis made up the blackmail story due to a trade war that has broken out in the sector and as a means of warding off a possible takeover attempt from a competitor.

A prosecutor’s preliminary investigation into alleged price-fixing practices in the dairy industry has been completed and charges are expected to be brought shortly against four dairy companies, inlcuding MEVGAL.