Greece’s financial crimes squad SDOE on Friday released details of action it has taken in recent months to uncover incidents of tax evasion and corruption, such as checking for swimming pools and leisure boats that are undeclared or registered to offshore companies, major real estate deals and inspecting the books of night clubs, doctors and notaries.
It also gave details of the results of its inspections and further leads it is currently investigating.
Among the more notable of its findings was the fact that cross-checks of the tax statements given by notaries showed that 63 percent of those checked had discrepancies exceeding 100,000 euros between their declared profits and revenues.
SDOE officers have also obtained records from construction companies concerning owners of swimming pools, which will now be checked against their tax statements to discover whether the pools have been declared.
Further investigation of lawyers’ offices and leisure boat import companies have unveiled 35 cases of high-profile owners of luxury leisure craft exceeding 30 metres in length that whose businesses were actually declaring a loss.
Also underway is an investigation of some 200 properties apparently owned by off-shore companies, to discover their ownership status and whether they pay taxes, while contracts for the sale of large real estate holdings are being examined.
SDOE also reported uncovering 449 tax violations during 802 inspections on night clubs and restaurants in Attica during April and May, saying that these businesses will be closed for a specific period of time based on the new tax laws.
The financial crimes squad is also carrying out systematic checks for such things as illegal returns of VAT on agricultural goods, fake doctors’ prescriptions burdening social insurance funds, hospital procurements, Greek Navy procurements and opening the accounts of surgeons and doctors working in diagnostic centres or the state health service.
Apart from the above, SDOE is currently involved in the investigation for the Vatopedi Monastery land swaps and the Siemens case, as well as an examination
(source: ana-mpa)
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