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A deputy who has exported one million euro to a Swiss bank is wanted

22 February 2012 / 21:02:23  GRReporter
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Revelations of a deputy evading taxes by exporting one million euro abroad caused confusion in the Greek parliament. It all began with a statement of the president of the commission fighting legalization of money from criminal activities, Panagiotis Nikoloudis, before the committee on institutions and transparency.

"Through checks that might not be quite complete we have found out that one member of parliament exported 1 million during the dramatic May of last year."

He did not name the "offender" elected by the people and launched a war of rumours and mutual accusations between the deputies, who wondered which of their colleagues it could be. Stating that the money had not been exported from the country illegally, the chairman made it clear that it is a matter of "morality."

Deputies from all parties, but mostly from PASOK, asked the president to disclose the name of the deputy. "We want this "hide and seek" to stop because the shadow falls on all of us," said Odysseus Konstantinopoulos, who is in parliament for the first time.

The issue was discussed extensively in the lobbies and the plenary hall. "We have to find out who he/she is and he/she should assume his/her responsibilities," said PASOK deputy Christos Protopapas. Minister of Justice Miltiadis Papaioannou pledged to "personally intervene" after admitting that the committee chairman and deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court are not allowed to disclose the name during the investigation. However, the Minister insisted that the name of the deputy should be made public.

The commission fighting the legalization of money from criminal activities carried out checks on the finances of this particular deputy following a "signal of a citizen." Deputy chairman of parliament Evangelos Argyris told the team of accountants investigating the deputies’ income in 2011 to make the necessary data comparisons to expose the deputy. He told journalists that he cannot wait for the completion of the check by Mr. Nikoloudis.

At the same time, the issue of cross-checking the data for the flow of deposits of "three or four" deputies pending for several months was back on the agenda. The competent deputy speaker of parliament said that there will be announcements on the matter within a few days.

New Democracy parliamentary representative Nikos Dendias called for a clear deadline for the disclosure by saying, "Specify when this matter will be concluded successfully."

According to the website madata.gr, suspicions fell at a time on the former New Democracy deputy Spilios Livanos, possibly because about a month ago, he had made a request to the deputy speaker of parliament to revise his income statement. According to his request, the amount of 1.05 million euro 980,000 of which have already been deposited in foreign and 70 000 - in Greek banks  "inadvertently" were not recorded in the 2009 income statement.

In a message issued earlier today, Spilios Livanos has firmly denied that he was the deputy concerned. He has also emphasized that Panagiotis Nikoloudis meant an acting deputy and warned that he would consider defamation any reference to his name. GRReporter tried to find out more information about him on his personal website, but it turned out that it is "under construction."

Anyway, the parliament is still "buzzing" and newer deputies are scowling at their older colleagues, trying to unravel the greatest riddle: Who is the deputy who has exported one million euro to Switzerland, when rumours of a possible default of the country were more than deafening?

At the same time, the supervisory Troika urged the government to appoint a new and permanent secretary to the Ministry of Finance, who will be responsible only for the state revenue and the proper implementation of the budget. His appointment is one of the obligations Greece has taken by voting on the new memorandum and the matter was discussed again at the meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.

Since the day when the former secretary responsible for tax and customs matters, Yiannis Kapeleris resigned after being charged with corruption, the post has remained vacant. As a result, many issues related to the ministry and tax offices remain open.

On the other hand, the budget revenue in January 2012 was not positive and the appointment of an official, who will deal only with the revenue and adjustment of any deviation in the performance, is imperative.

Tags: PoliticsDeputiesOne millionSwiss bankCommission fighting legalization of money from criminal activities
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