Galery

1

According to a publication in Ethnos newspaper, Nikos Mihaloliakos and his wife Eleni Zaroulia are the main participants in a joint-stock company who officially receive not a euro from the profits that exceed the amount of 100 thousand euro. At the same time, being members of the board they render their services "free of charge".

How do they do this? They do it with the help of Albanian citizens from northern Epirus, who have Greek names and who pay a high rent for the property – the "New dream" hotel-haven for illegal couples in Attiki Square in Athens.

According to the tax return filed last year, the two present deputies had a total monthly income of 1,652 euro. Eleni Zaroulia did not state any real income, but only income from property provided free of charge. Nikos Mihaloliakos declared taxable income to the amount of 23 thousand euro gained from the publication of books. The after-tax net income of the couple totalled 19,827 euro.

At the same time, his wife declared a presumed gross income of 33,700 euro from the free providing of property, including the hotel in question and two commercial sites. It is worth noting that the "presumed income" from the property the owner provides free of charge was calculated at a rate of 3.5% of its objective value. The calculations based on the data presented indicate that the objective value of the property Eleni Zaroulia provides free of charge is 960,000 euro.

However, the paradoxes do not stop here. She provides the building, which houses the "New dream" hotel, to the joint stock company "Lydia SA - Hotel and restaurant companies." In turn, the company rents the building to a company called "P. C. Tsiantos EPE" that operates in the hospitality business. Nikos Mihaloliakos and his wife are members of the Management Board of the joint -stock company and Eleni Zaroulia being a vice president of "Lydia SA - Hotel and restaurant companies" signs the annual financial statements of the company. Its president and CEO is her brother, Apostolos Zaroulias.

The net profit of the company in the last four years amounted to 83 – 130 thousand euro. The majority of the amounts were distributed among the shareholders whose names are unknown because they hold bearer shares.

The data indicate two suspicious findings at least: The first one is that although she is a major depositor of capital in the joint- stock company by providing property, documents show that Eleni Zaroulia has no participation in the profits, nor does she receive compensation as a vice president. Her husband Nikos Mihaloliakos is also presented as a board member who does not receive money for his participation. The second fact, which raises doubts, is that Eleni Zaroulia provides a very lucrative property free of charge and she even refuses to receive the rents from the "P. C. Tsiantos EPE" company although she could operate the property as an individual person. Of course, the balance sheet of "Lydia SA- Hotel and restaurant companies" makes the things clear.

On the one hand, shareholding provides tax and other benefits that do not apply to individuals. These include the anonymity secured by bearer shares and the low taxation on revenues. The balance sheets of the joint- stock company in question do not specify whether and what compensations the board members receive or who receives money as a shareholder and the amount received. Eleni Zaroulia herself did not present to tax authorities income from shares in joint- stock companies and holdings of shares.

On the other hand, one of the easiest ways for hiding from tax authorities income from the rental of properties is by submitting documents that the properties are provided to others free of charge. Thus, the owner "saves" large amounts of tax on rentals that he or she receives in cash and the tax authorities just determine a minimum "presumed income". It is between 3.5 and 5% of the objective (the market value is always higher) value of the property and property owners who claim that they provide the property free of charge always benefit from that.
 
So, Eleni Zaroulia declared in 2011 a "presumed income" from the hotel and the two shops amounting to 33,700 euro. It was taxed in accordance with the table for individuals at rates ranging from 10 to 35%, the highest rate affecting only a small part of the income to the amount of seven thousand euro.

If she had received the hotel rents last year as an individual person, only her income from rents would have been taxed at 45%. So, the tax on the presumed income would have been 6,370 euro and the tax on rental income - 34,220 euro.

According to sources of the edition, the joint-stock company had a net profit of 130 thousand euro last year. The comparison with the tax return of "P. C. Tsiantos EPE" shows that almost the entire amount was received from the rental of the building, which houses the "New dream" hotel.

Suspicious are also the tax returns of the tenants of the hotel. The tax return of "P. C. Tsiantos EPE" for 2011 indicates a turnover of 448 thousand euro, from which it paid rents to the amount of 104 thousand euro to the joint-stock company and twelve thousand euro to Eleni Zarolia. Impressive is the fact that the balance sheet describes high expenses in result of which the taxable income amounts to twelve thousand euro. The partners in the firm are Petros (Petro) Tsiantos (Cando) born in Saranda, Albania and Vangelis (Vangjel) Tsiantos (Cando) born in Gjirokaster, also in Albania. It is obvious that the names in their identity documents have been made Greek. The company was registered in 2011 under the name NOVITA EPE.