Arrests made following Tax Office raid
CORFU. Tax officials and an accountant were brought before the Prosecutor with a case file for corruption. Statements from the Minister of Finance and head of AADE.
The operation at the Tax Office is described by eyewitnesses as a commando-style raid. It took place on Thursday afternoon (10/10), when four employees of the Corfu Tax Office (DOY) were arrested. Their mobile phones and the hard drives from their office computers were confiscated, and subsequent searches were conducted at their homes. An accountant was also arrested at his workplace as an accomplice. Everyone was talking about the case on Friday morning when the police announced the operation.
The operation was carried out by the Internal Affairs Department after long-term surveillance of the suspects' movements.
The corruption case involves 'facilitating' individuals under investigation for tax violations. This is why an inspector, authorised by his service, is among the arrested. The identity of the accountant, who works with a chain of Corfu-based businesses, has drawn attention. It remains unknown whether the activities under investigation concern those businesses or others, as the contents of the case file have not been disclosed.
The five arrested individuals were brought before the Prosecutor early on Friday morning.
In a post on X, Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis stated that "As was evident in the recent, unfortunate case in Halkida a few months ago, the Ministry of Finance will not tolerate any incidents of corruption in the services it oversees. AADE reacted swiftly then, and now again decisively in Corfu."
The head of AADE, Giorgos Pitsilis, stated that "As soon as we became aware of information regarding the activities of a corruption ring, we immediately requested the assistance of the Internal Affairs Department of the Hellenic Police, so that a thorough investigation could be conducted, and the case could be brought to justice."
GIORGOS KATSAITIS
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