“My client denies that she has collected money from anyone and any amount”, Athanasios Tartis, lawyer of the tax office, of the “big one”, as she was called other members of the ring involved in the case of extorting citizens.

On the occasion of her pre-trial detention, Mr. Tartis raised the question “how can they be suspected of committing new similar crimes since they have been put on holiday”, stressing that they will appeal against this provision.

Mr. Tartis also noted that “bribery is a felony under certain conditions, it can also be a misdemeanor.”

“Unfortunately, baksis is a bad reality in Greece and it must disappear at some point,” he added.

The “big” pennant

According to the information coming to the public, “fotia” had taken the teftera of the director of the DOU in Chalkida, who apparently arranged everything and had the first and last say in the extortions.

Supermarket expenses, vacations, tutoring and daily expenses were some of what the director of DOU in Chalkida allegedly noted in the notepad as well as names of members of the organization, blackmailed businessmen and sums of money accompanied by dates.

The visual material that has been recorded by the Incorruptibles of ELAS on the days they watched the 56-year-old woman and the other members shows the operator leaving the DOU Chalkida, holding in her hands a file which she had received from the director of the DOU and it concerned a businessman’s case.

The supervisor and another employee deny the charges

It is recalled that yesterday Friday, after their apologies, the supervisor and another employee of the DOU of Chalkida who are involved in the case of blackmailing citizens, were temporarily detained. In particular, by a unanimous decision of the Prosecutor and the Investigator, their incarceration in the country’s Penitentiary was ordered, until the trial of the case.

According to the information, the defendants deny all the charges. In fact, regarding the amounts that have seen the light of day, the director of DOU claims that they have to do with revenues of DOU while she says that the businessman who complained of extortion trapped her.

The other two employees were banned from leaving the country, while a guarantee of 10,000 euros and their presence twice a month at the police station was set.

The 7 arrested are facing a heavy indictment, which includes statements from businessmen who claim that they fell into the net of their criminal activity. At the same time, there are also telephone communications that burn them.

Among other things, they face charges of criminal organization, bribery, dereliction of duty, extortion, bribery and weapons on a case-by-case basis.

However, from the police investigation at the house of the director of the DOU, the police found more than 50,000 euros in banknotes, while a 50-year-old businessman is shown in a video document to pay 20,000 euros, in order for the tax authorities not to proceed with the audit of his companies.

AADE order for internal control at the DOU

At the same time, the Governor of AADE, Giorgos Pitsilis, gave an order for an internal audit on the process of tax refunds, as well as the granting of proof of tax awareness, following the case of corruption at the DOU of Chalkida.

The control will be carried out both in the DOUs, on a sample basis, from all over Greece, in the first phase, and in the central system. At the same time, the audit by the Directorate of Internal Affairs of the AADE continues at the DOU of Chalkida, through the examination and analysis of all files, given the order of Mr. Pitsilis for a five-year audit.

It is recalled that audit cases are transferred from the DOU of Chalkida, to the audit centers of Attica, and the auditors of this particular service are included in ELKE Attica, but without auditing the cases of taxpayers of Evia, as well as all the employees of this tax office.