Top tax official Katerina Savvaidou from the General Secretariat of Public Revenue held a meeting on Tuesday where it was decided to probe the finances of 1,500 affluent people on the list of transfers to overseas accounts. The meeting discussed the General Secretariat of Public Revenue’s plans to take action against those who have undeclared money abroad.

Persons with finances abroad will be unaware that they are being investigated until receiving an invitation from the Tax Office at which time there will be enough evidence of their activities. The entire assets of the person being investigated will be bound until the audit of their activities overseas is complete.

The plan unifies five-six lists (Lagarde, Lichtenstein, etc.) as many of the people to be investigated are on one or more of these lists. The Tax Center for Large Wealth (KEFOMEP) will explore the amount of money in these accounts and compare these with declared income.  Once it is found that there is a large difference between declared income and actual wealth of taxpayers the file of the person being investigated will make its way to the financial prosecutor. Automatically, the person’s assets will be bound and in danger of confiscation unless the investigated party can come up with an adequate explanation concerning the difference.

The blockage of assets as a “tool” in financial investigations has been at the disposal of Greek financial prosecutors according to a law voted at the end of 2014. It was activated in February on a pilot basis and allows investigations to take place without the person being accused of financial crimes to have access to funds so as to pass these to third parties during the investigation.