Stournaras: "Do not rush, you will see results with the Lagarde list"

"Do not rush, you will see results with the Lagarde list," the Greek FinMin replied after meeting with the economic prosecutors when journalists asked him if it is true that not a single euro has been collected from the fight against tax evasion.

Stournaras met with public prosecutors Panayotis Athanasiou and Yannis Dragatsis in an attempt to improve the cooperation and coordination of the movements of the Tax Administration with the judiciaries in order to accelerate the audits of important cases that have not progressed, like the approximately 2,000 people included in the Lagarde list and the crosschecks on the source of remittances that were transferred abroad in recent years.

The inspectors are never enough to check all cases, Stournaras told reporters. He also said that the institution of partial tax audits will be extended, that is, the government will begin immediate audits in order to crack down tax evasion and bring revenues to the treasury.

Today’s meeting took place after the intervention of economic prosecutor Panayotis Athanasiou to tax officers and SDOE where he asked the managers of major Tax Offices to check big cases of remittances sent abroad and selected offshore companies that SDOE does not have time to audit itself. He also asked SDOE to set up a team to perform a complete audit which should be carried out within a month.