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As a result of the strong pressure from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union for "tax treatment", judicial and prosecutorial authorities in Greece continue to capture and bring to justice some businessmen and self-employed individuals for duties to the state and 'black' income.

According to sources, warrants for the arrest of ten prominent businessmen are expected to be issued this week. The names of a whole range of businesses and freelance professionals such as doctors, lawyers, artists and others are constantly being added to the list of debtors. They owe the state amounts exceeding € 75,000 and their income does not justify their huge bank accounts.

Competent factors consider that the Economic Police is playing the crucial role in exemplary punishment of major debtors. It is penetrating deeper into the waters of tax evasion by conducting extensive inspections and using information and announcements. Although the specific department deals mainly with cases of non-issuance of invoices, its staff is gradually being trained to unravel large and complex cases of tax evasion.

Members of the Greek government set high hopes on the Economic Police in revealing smuggling and money laundering and note that it could become the bugbear of tax evaders. They say the service has performed better than the department for prosecuting economic crimes, which is being accused of tardiness and ineffectiveness in completing the inspections and reporting them to the justice. According to them, another shortcoming is putting up barriers and pretexts before the drastic reeducation of tax evasion, giving as an example the pending case with the doctors from the luxury Athens district of Kolonaki. They were captured a year ago for not issuing receipts for examinations and for declaring low incomes, while living in luxury and enjoying fat bank accounts.
 
The plan to catch offenders, which is in full effect with the assistance of experts from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union includes:
 
- All who owe amounts over € 75,000 in unpaid VAT and € 150 000 in unpaid income tax. The aim is to send a clear message to society that the government and justice will be strict regarding tax crimes and will not forgive anyone's sins. According to representatives of the Ministry of Finance, "fear of handcuffs" has sent to tax offices many debtors, willing to draw up a plan for paying their obligations. Anyway, the authorities have set November 24 as a deadline for debtors of large amounts to appear in tax offices and agree on their payment. Otherwise, their names will be announced publicly.

- Taxpayers and mostly the self-employed, whose bank deposits in no way correspond to the income declared. A 45% tax is imposed on that portion of the deposit not covered by the income as well as penalties and interest for overdue payment. Those, who have been inspected and charged taxes and fines in excess of € 150,000 but refuse to pay them, will be handcuffed. They will also be subject to fast-track judicial procedure and criminal persecution. Sources claim that bank accounts of about 3,000 taxpayers have been looked into so far and the inspections of a thousand of them have already been completed.

Representatives of the financial institution have attributed the high number of captures in the last days to the change in the legal framework: making tax evasion a continuing offence, the appointment of Economic Prosecutor, the establishment of Economic Police, the technical assistance and pressure from the supervisory Troika and the strong political will. By law, non-payment of taxes in excess of € 5000 continues to be a crime and fast-track legal proceedings for long periods of time are provided for it. Before the adoption of the new law, the offence was considered simple and the offender had to be arrested within a few days of the delay of his duties to enforce the fast-track legal proceedings.

Besides debtors and undeclared income, tax authorities have also discovered serious cases of tax evasion for large and luxury properties, belonging to offshore companies.

One person who has sat in the "hot seat" of the new institution "Economic Prosecutor" is Grigoris Peponis. He was elected because in the early 1980s, his name was associated with the pursuit of important names and economic figures in Athens, who were forced to pay large sums to the state. They were accused of issuing fictitious invoices and giving bribes in marked bills. Grigoris Peponis was ruthless in pursuing physicians who had received envelopes with money from patients. He revealed a criminal network that had provided illegal constructions with electrification, while those involved pretended that they did not see the rise of illegal buildings and he denounced his own assistant, when he found out that he was destroying court files.

During his apprenticeship as chief prosecutor in Piraeus, Grigoris Peponis began criminal persecutions for the sinking of many ships, including the Express Samina, as well as for violations in football matches. When the former investigator Constantina Bourboulia was released, he conducted a prosecutor investigation concerning the medical notes, which were presented to justify the request for her release from prison.

The turning point in Grigoris Peponis' career as prosecutor was the preliminary investigation of the structured bond scandal. He conducted his investigation within a few weeks in the summer of 2007, proposed the submission of the case file in parliament to start the activation process of the law on criminal responsibility of ministers. His action was opposed by the then Chief Prosecutor George Sanidas, who considered the evidence insufficient to establish the members of the government liability.

Even his first actions in his new position have indicated that he will crack down on all offenders. Well-known businessmen are continuously captured. Grigoris Peponis has requested all lists and it is expected that new arrests and fast-track judicial proceedings will follow.