Greek banks have been obliged to confiscate money from accounts belonging to tax deviators. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras has already signed a special decree, Ekathimerini reports.
In accordance with the requirements of the Greek government, financial institutions must freeze the bank accounts of debtors within ten days after they receive the request from the tax authorities. The new rules came into force on December 9. In addition, on December 12, the tax authorities will be provided with online checking system for requests sent to a bank.
Back in February, Stournaras vowed to fight with those who are evading taxes and collecting funds abroad. At the same time, Greece’s Ministry of Finance announced that in 2012 it had levied 1.5 billion euros against tax evaders, who paid the money back then.
The Greek government stepped up the pressure on tax offenders after the scandal that had broken out in the country last year. It was related to the so-called ‘Lagarde list’, named after Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund. In 2010, she, the then French finance minister, made a list of wealthy Greeks who hid their fortunes at the Swiss branch of HSBC. Then, she handed the list to Finance Minister of Greece George Papaconstantinou, but it did not shine a light on tax evasion as the paper was ignored. In 2012, the Greek mass media published the names of listed tax offenders. It revealed more than 2,000 wealthy Greeks who had cash deposits of 500 million euros in Geneva.
Greece's economy was hit hard by the global financial crisis and the debt crisis in the eurozone as well. The GDP decreased by almost a quarter over the last few years, and the austerity measures taken to obtain assistance from the international lenders led to a record rise in unemployment. Amid the ongoing crisis, Greek ordinary citizens protested against the government as it was reducing wages and benefits instead of struggling with bad tax evaders among rich businessmen.