The trial of the members of the Committee for the Resolution of Tax Disputes, who are accused of having damaged the public sector with at least 7.5 million euros in the period 2012-14, begins on Tuesday.
Fines amounting to millions of euros were paid to big names which had been imposed by the tax authorities for numerous violations and irregularities. As a result of their illegal actions, the Greek public suffered at least 7.5 million euros. This is a carbine case of corruption and disloyalty at the expense of the public which is being heard on Tuesday, April 9, before the Three-member Court of Criminal Appeals of Athens. The defendants are the president, the vice-president and the members of the Tax Dispute Resolution Committee of the General Directorate of Tax Audits of the Ministry of Finance for the period 2012-14, to which dozens of businesses had appealed requesting the annulment of fines or taxes that had been imposed on them by the competent DOU.
Among the beneficiaries are the deceased publisher of “Protou Thematos” Themos Anastasiadis, the company Venetis, the famous beach bar in Mykonos Super Paradise as well as lesser known companies or individuals who saw the fines imposed on them either greatly reduced or they disappear completely. The impressive thing is that among the defendants are current and former tax officials, former vice-president of the State Legal Council (NSK), business executives and businessmen, who face the charges of disloyalty and complicity at the expense of the public and moral complicity in the particular crime. as a felony. In fact, some of the accused tax officials appear to have been employed by AADE at least until 2020, when the case was under the microscope of the prosecution authorities.
The committee that deleted fines and taxes
The Tax Dispute Resolution Committee of the General Directorate of Tax Audits of article 70A of Law 2238/1994 had operated in the period 2012-14. It was then replaced by the Dispute Resolution Directorate.
The disputed case was due to go to trial in mid-March last year. However, at the request of the defendants’ defense lawyers, a postponement was granted and a new hearing was set for next Tuesday, April 9.
Among those who will sit in the defendant’s dock are the former vice-president of the National Security Council and chairman of the said committee Vlasios Asimakopoulos, the vice-chairman of the committee and management advisor of the Association of Businesses and Industries (SEB) on tax policy matters Konstantinos Sfakakis, the management partner of the SEB and member of the Board of Lamda Development Hariton Kyriazis, tax officials and business representatives.
The auditees appealed to the disputed committee, as they had the right to do, after the imputation of fines or taxes by the competent tax authorities. The committee would meet and decide whether the fines would be reduced or not. From the investigation of the Economic Prosecutor’s Office that had started in 2016 and the 100-page conclusion of a special audit team of the Ministry of Finance that had been set up as part of the investigation, dozens of cases of companies had been identified in which the commission had disappeared fines and taxes of millions of euros. According to a January 2019 Documento report, the fines that had been written off totaled €100 million. However, only five cases, with a total value of 7.5 million euros, were finally referred to trial for the cases of cancellation of taxes or fines.
01 The case of Venice
One of the contested cases concerns the company Venetis SA. It was December 5, 2012 when the Tax Disputes Administrative Resolution Committee met to discuss the company’s administrative dispute resolution application. Fines amounting to 4.704 million euros were imposed on Veneti SA following an audit by the tax authorities. The fines were based on an audit report carried out in 2003 by the SDOE of Central Macedonia on the company. SDOE auditors had identified “possible fictitious transactions” by Venetia with another company. Of the 4.7 million euros, approximately 300,000 euros related to the imposition of a fine, 751,000 euros to non-payment of VAT and the remaining 3,652 million euros to income tax which, according to the auditors, Venetis SA should have paid.
At the meeting, the Administrative Tax Dispute Resolution Committee accepted Venice’s application and canceled both the fines and taxes that had been assessed. As they stated in their reasoning: “the data on which the issuance of the supplementary control sheet was based do not constitute supplementary data within the meaning of the provisions defined by the relevant legislation”. However, according to what is mentioned in the referral will, the defendants knew that their decision “was not based on the facts which were proved by the documents of the case file at their disposal”. The result was that the public was damaged by 4,704 million euros.
02 Themos and the boats
One more case concerns the case of the deceased editor of “Protou Thematos” Themos Anastasiadis and the debts of 3.423 million euros that had been attributed to him in November 2012 by the 13th Court of Justice of Athens for the year 2007. Th. Anastasiadis appealed to the Commission of Administrative Tax Dispute Resolution, which heard the case a few months later. The commission “partially vindicated” Anastasiadis, as it decided that “in his case, the amount of 1 million euros is recognized as an available balance from the years 1981-1984 because the auditee was active as a journalist in a well-paid entertainment and media market so as not to be wronged and to compromise”.
However, this decision, as pointed out in the reference will, was not based on the facts as the Anastasiadis side did not “provide the legal documentary evidence for the audit to prove that incomes from previous years have been taxed or legally exempted from tax. The result of the reduction of the income determined by the audit by 1 million euros was the reduction of the total determined taxable income of Anastasiadis by the corresponding amount in the fiscal year 2007 with a corresponding reduction of the imputed tax… They made the above unanimous decision knowing that it causes direct and certain damage to the Greek public in the amount of at least 400,000 euros”.
03 ELINA ATE and virtual data
Another case examined by the committee concerns the company ELINA ATE.
It was November 26, 2012 when the DOU of Florina imposed a fine of 1.032 million euros on the company for “obtaining fictitious tax data for the purchase of goods”. In particular, the company had shown in the fiscal year 2010 tax data from a specific company. However, as the auditors of the DOU Florina had established, these tax figures were fake. It is characteristic that ELINA ATE replied to the auditors that they did not come into contact or know the owner of the business, but with third parties and sellers, specifically with a person named “Bambis”.
Finally, on July 3, 2013, the committee decided “to cancel the imposed fines due to the good faith of the recipient company and due to non-extension of the tax audit to it”. This had the effect of damaging the Greek government by 1.032 million euros.
04 The fake invoices of Super Paradise in Mykonos
On March 27, 2013, the Tax Disputes Administrative Resolution Committee met again. This time in order to examine the application of the administrative dispute resolution of the company Xydaki Brothers SA which was filed at the end of October 2012. This is the company that owns the famous beach bar Super Paradise in Mykonos. At the expense of the company, the DOU of Mykonos had imposed a fine of 881,392 euros for “26 fictitious tax items” which it had identified in its books.
It was 2006 when inspectors from the DOU Mykonos went to Super Paradise and asked the manager to show them the 100 sq.m. windows. which the beach bar had. However, the person in charge informed the inspectors that this was not possible as “they had been covered with concrete due to a change in plans”. Also, the person in charge “did not show the auditors either a shipping note or a bill of lading or any other evidence proving the handling, transportation and existence of the 100 square meters of windows”, while the company had not “preserved its books and data” as was obliged.
In addition to these, tax officials also found a number of fictitious tax documents issued by companies for alleged construction work at Super Paradise. However, the tax data were deemed “fake”, because the “punch mark” they had did not correspond to any DOU. In fact, two of the companies that appeared to have issued the specific invoices were… non-existent.
The committee, after a meeting, unanimously decided to reduce the fine by half, resulting in a loss of 440,396 euros to the public.
05 Donation that was not a donation
The fifth case that will be examined before the court after so many years, like all the others that occupied the Justice, has to do with a case of donation. On May 29, 2013, the committee met in order to discuss the application of three private individuals requesting the annulment of the act of determining the donation tax from the 4th District Court of Piraeus.
In November 2022, the three individuals were charged a donation tax of 942,024 euros for an amount they had inherited from their mother.
This amount had been deposited into the mother’s bank account by a businessman with close ties to the family. However, a relative of the businessman complained in early 2010 that this amount was a donation and therefore should have been taxed based on the current provisions. An investigation by the SDOE followed and finally a donation tax was charged to the heirs. However, the commission annulled the imputation deed on the grounds that the amount was indeed “not a gift” to their mother and therefore should not be taxed.
However, according to the writ, the commission’s decision was “baseless” and “not based on the facts, as demonstrated by the case file documents before them.” The result was to damage the Greek government by 942,024 euros.
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