Galery

1

The authorities have seized and will sell by auctions hundreds of luxury properties, hotels in resorts, plots, agricultural land and industrial sites owned by famous persons with large, unpaid tax liabilities.

The list of sale of immovable property and seizure of income, bank accounts and vehicles due for unpaid tax liabilities from 12 thousand to 14 million euro contains the names of persons famous for their professional and secular activities:

- Presidents and managing directors of well-known companies running businesses abroad
- Subsidiaries of construction companies owned by a known developer
- Politicians
- Journalists
- Former and current presidents of major football and sports clubs
- A hotel owned by a relative of a political leader
- Sales representatives
- A well-known medical consortium.

Among the properties for sale at auctions are villas worth up to 5 million euro located in the luxury suburbs of Athens and on cosmopolitan islands, flats, multi-storey office buildings, large plots with or without building permits, agricultural land, industrial buildings and warehouses. The value of the property seized exceeds the tax liability of the owner in few cases. The purpose of the tax authorities is to ensure the recovery of the total amount through the bids that will be offered at the auctions.

At the same time, a measure to seize the salaries and bank accounts of 62 debtors with unpaid taxes of over 100 thousand euro has been enforced. Among them is a former director of a major newspaper and the total amount blocked is equal to 320 million euro.

According to the data on all debtors whose bank accounts have been frozen by the tax authorities, the amount deducted per person amounted to 30 million euro. The majority of seizures took place in January and September 2012, when the accounts of 30 people were blocked. In two cases, the amounts are really impressive: 29.7 million and 1.5 million euro.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the control authorities blocked and seized in 2012 assets and bank deposits of 12,878 debtors to the state. Of them, 4,307 owed huge amounts of around and over 100 thousand euro. The total value of seized assets (real estate, securities and bank deposits) was 1.5 billion euro, 1.4 billion of which had been seized by the tax authorities. The remaining 100 million euro were collected as a result of the actions of the service combating economic crimes and the service combating the legalization of income from illegal activities.

An industrialist lost two villas on the seafront

A famous industrialist received a document for the seizure of two expensive properties in the coastal suburb of Voula worth over 1.4 million euro. His company was once a model in the field of imports but last year, he was arrested for debts amounting to 2.2 million euro. As he had preferred not to respond to the call of the tax authorities to pay his duties, they announced last year the two houses for sale at an auction in order to bring the money into the state treasury.

A former football boss to become the first "homeless person" in Ekali

A businessman owning a company producing milk and dairy products, who comes from a rich family and who was the president of a major Athenian football club, will lose his house in a rich northern suburb of Ekali due to unpaid taxes to the amount of 145 thousand euro. The value of the property is 884 thousand euro. An interesting fact in the biography of the debtor is that he was a candidate for deputy from a party in the past but was not elected.

Unpaid duties are to "pull down" a house in Voula

Another businessman in the field of gambling games and the president of a big football club in the country is bidding farewell to his three-storey house worth 745 thousand, which was auctioned for 663 thousand euro.

The king of real estate has been left without a house

A businessman in the field of real estate trade in the region of Athens, famous for the construction of luxury office buildings, owes the tax authorities 207 thousand euro. Because of this duty, he is currently losing a plot with building permission and a house in the expensive neighbourhood of Psychico, which is worth 4.8 million euro as shown by the first price offered.

The major construction developer who is at the top of the ranking

Two subsidiary construction companies owe taxes in this case. The public knows their owner from trials in which he was accused of receiving direct government contracts without a competition. Moreover, he is closely related to a specific political party. Both companies owe the state more than 3 million euro due to which they will "lose" the auction for a stadium with a building worth 29 million euro and a building plot with a four-storey building worth 4 million euro in the suburb of Aharnes.

The offshore companies and the villa in Glyfada

The main character here is a businessman who was the main player in a network of fictitious trading of real estate and money laundering through offshore companies. They owe millions of euro in taxes and the authorities sold at an auction a plot and a two-storey building worth 4,968,960 euro, which are located in the seaside suburb of Glyfada. For his actions, the businessman was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

14 properties and a monument building sold at an auction

The managing director of a trading company for branded men's and women's clothing lost 14 flats and half of a monument building in Kolonaki totalling 8,168 thousand euro. He appeared before the court of his own free will to explain how the liabilities of his company had been accrued. At the same time, he said that he would file a request to the tax authorities to pay his duties in instalments whereas the company declared bankruptcy.

A medical consortium needs first aid

A large and famous medical consortium of clinics and diagnostic centres throughout Greece, owned by a businessman with diverse activities, lost a property worth 4.8 million euro because of duties amounting to 370 thousand euro.

A politician lost his office

A former deputy and a lawyer who conducted important suits during his long career and drew the public attention because of his involvement in scandalous cases lost his office in Piraeus worth 484 thousand euro, because of unpaid duties amounting to 62 thousand euro.

A famous journalist remains without a pension and a car

He is the editor of a major newspaper who owes the tax authorities more than two million euro in unpaid taxes. The authorities have seized his luxury car and the bank account receiving his pension. Every month, they take from it the minimum amount of one thousand euro as stipulated by law.