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70% of wealthy Greeks which owe about € 6.74 million have not paid their taxes for 2009.  The Minister of Finance George Papakonstantinou stated this at a meeting with journalists in the building of the National Statistical Institute. From the secretary’s office at the Ministry of Finance announced that they are 990 individuals who hold a total of 6121 real estates in the country and their tax assessment is exceeding the amount of € 567 million. Many of the properties are located in the popular tourist islands of Santorini and Miko, famous for their luxury and high prices. The Minister said that if the unfair payers do not repay as soon as possible, tax authorities will begin general inspections, enforcement of debts, followed by auctions to cover tax liabilities. Correct payers, who have repaid their debts to the state, are only 230 individuals who represent only one third of the country’s financial strength today.

The Minister of Finance announced at the press conference the official inauguration of the new President of the National Statistical Service of Greece Andreas Georgiou. He has been Deputy Head of the Department of Statistics at the International Monetary Fund till now. He is a graduate of Amherst College and received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, USA. He and the government face the difficult task to restore the confidence of local and international institutions in the reliability of statistics in Greece during the economic recovery of the country.

The reformed law on statistics, according to the Finance Minister George Papakonstantinou, meets two basic requirements - political fairness and administrative efficiency. The Act defines the Statistical Service as a public legal entity and provides institutional guarantees for the independence of its work.

At the same time, it became clear that the IMF plans to establish a permanent office in Athens, which will monitor closely the activities of the Greek Government and the economic development of the country. The two commissioners obliged to monitor the implementation of the Memorandum between Greece and the Triple are the Dutchman Bob Traa, who heads the European division of the fund, and the German lady Stephanie Eple. They will arrive on Monday with the 11 members of the mission of the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the IMF, who come to inspect the progress in the consolidation of Greek finances. Furthermore, the Head of the Mission Dane Paul Thomsen is expected to stay in Athens together with Traa and Eple after the inspection.