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Members of the service fighting economic crimes expressed their utmost dissatisfaction with the tolerant attitude of the judiciary to popular Greeks caught for tax evasion.

The decisions of investigators and prosecutors, who neither put under arrest, nor determined a bail of even one euro for persons known from lifestyle magazines and television broadcasts, owing millions of euros due to unpaid VAT, have brought the services to deadlock. Their members determine what is happening as "immunity for glamorous people" and accuse the judicial authorities that they lack prestige" and that they "do not have the courage to send someone of the captured popular persons to jail even for a week."

Sources from the service fighting economic crimes indicated that in practice, there is "television democracy" and "television rights rise above human rights" According to them, the dismissal of some recently captured tax evaders shows that "justice is influenced by television programs."

The judicial circles, protecting the specific decisions, argue that they have been taken based on law. In particular, the firms are already subject to Article 99 of the bankruptcy code. Thus, the law itself protects the owners from any legal action against them.

"When someone is accused of stealing one million euros from the state, this person should be retained for that action, because non-payment of VAT is in fact theft. This is not about people who do not pay taxes. This theft is detrimental to society because the accused person does not pay the money from the VAT, but has taken it from the goods sold. This means that they take 23% VAT from customers and then put it into their pockets instead of giving it to the state. This is an act of contempt for the public itself, because it is done at the expense of retirees, employees, hospitals and so on. "

Release of captured is the main topic of discussions held at the offices of pursuing services."We cannot tolerate them while they steal from the state. If they stole € 500,000 from a rich man or € 100,000 from a bank, they would send them to jail." According to them, it is not proper to use the captured as an example of "intimidation" to others "because this violates basic human rights. The reason for the conviction to imprisonment should reflect the criteria of the law in a particular way. One is the importance of the action in case of a theft to the detriment of the state. Another criterion is the possibility for those people to repeat their actions after their release."

According to the members of the services fighting economic crimes, "Justice is not dogmatic. It should follow social trends, attitudes and circumstances. In a situation like today, when the electricity of pensioners who do not owe anything to the state is cut, it is not possible to exempt some, just because they are popular."

Law considers the non-payment of VAT a severe form of appropriation, because the specific tax is paid in advance. According to the Criminal Procedure Code, the judicial authorities may impose temporary detention for a felony when there is doubt that the accused may flee or may commit other crimes. Those accused and convicted for tax fraud as felony, and non-payment of VAT, issuing false and fictitious invoices and tax evasion, coupled with the regularisation of funds from illegal activities are threatened by "freezing" and ban on sale of assets and confiscation of their property. The law covers cases in the period from April 2010 to today and the goal is for the state to be able to collect the amounts due, if the offender does not pay them by the end of his trial.

At the same time, the service fighting economic crimes is making enormous efforts to find major debtors’ property and seize it in order for the state to recuperate at least part of the huge amounts. According to sources, the service is investigating at least 15 such cases. Under their focus is the villa of one of the large debtors recently seized, which is located on one of the cosmopolitan Cycladic islands. They are investigating who the owners are of luxury yachts and properties in expensive areas in order to confiscate them if they belong to the accused persons. "The law provides for the freezing of property and then confiscation, but this is not a simple process," stressed sources from the service fighting economic crimes.

They say that finding the property is the most important procedure, because many of the accused have tried to transfer it to the names of others. "We are following the road of money, but for now, it is quite impassable." Many debtors have transferred their assets to offshore companies and the unclear legislation only prevents the operation of the service. Similar are the difficulties, when the captured is the owner of a large number of shares in joint stock companies, for the confiscation of their personal property is not allowed.

However, there are ways to find out who is behind company's management. The service fighting economic crimes explains that when they reach individual persons related to the property, they question them about how they got the houses, villas, boats, cash, and whether they paid the due taxes.

If they cannot justify them, then starts a judicial persecution of tax evasion, which is a felony if the amount exceeds € 150,000. In some cases, there are accusations for regularisation of money obtained through illegal activities.