9 out of 10 debtors are paying to avoid getting caught

The efforts of the economic police have recently shown impressive results.

As deputy finance minister Pantelis Economou announced from the parliamentary podium of the finance committee, responding to criticism against the government for not tackling tax evasion, only during the third quarter of 2011 we saw an increase in state revenues by 5.5% even despite a general economic downturn that reached 5.5%.

Economou attributed this increase to the tackling of tax evasion. He said that the initiatives of SDOE alone in the last 2 weeks brought in 2.5 million euros "from compliance and VAT debts. Nine out of ten are now paying. Each week five debtors are led to, or threatened with arrest, thereby regulating their debts." He added that only during the last week 1.5 million euros have flowed into the state coffers "from checking on assets from offshore companies."

Finally, he mentioned the development in the effort for the technological upgrading of customs in order to tackle smuggling in a more effective way.