Based on data by World Tax Law Network, the registered off-shore companies in Greece reached a record number – 10 000.

“We know that there are many firms on the American continent, which are made with Greek capital and do not pay taxes. But the truth is that we do not have all the necessary data for the amount of unpaid taxes through off-shore companies in Greece,” said for “Ta Nea” newspaper the international department director of the organization John Christensen.

“The firms on the American continent, which have registered that they own only one very expensive real estate property, are about 1500. But according to me, the ones which develop their business in the finance and investment fields are more than 10 000,” adds the former Financial research director of the Office for Financial Crimes Fight in Greece Panayotis Douvis.

Based on unconfirmed data, each year the state loses about ?6 billion from tax evasion of those firms and the Greek capital offshore companies play with ?500 billion.

Tax evasion is not the only thing that stuns the tax agents: according to competent sources, from 15 000 signals for suspicious deals, which have been received in the last 12 years, 10 500 out of them were directly or indirectly involved with offshore companies.

“Based on an evaluation by experts, the tax evasion by oversea firms in all European countries is 2.25% of European Union’s GDP,” said Mr. Christiansen.

The reasons why many Greeks prefer to found an oversea firm instead of a Greek one are many. First, the oversea firm can be founded quickly for one day, only by one stockholder or by paying a small amount of money. Second, the most attractive thing with offshore companies is that the anonymity of the stockholders is kept: depending on the tax “heaven,” where the headquarters of the firm is and it is possible either not to mention the real stockholders or to mention stockholders “by name,” who deal with the stocks for other people.