Businessmanwhose name was involved in the controversy financial scandal of illegal VAT refunds which occupied the prosecuting authorities of Thessaloniki during the 90s and damaged the Greek State with tens of millions of euros, was arrested yesterday morning at Thessaloniki.

It’s about 73 years old which was considered for a number of years fugitive and it is estimated that he had fled abroad.

The businessman was found in execution of a special investigator’s warrant, as there are pending court decisions against him, by which he was sentenced to several years in prison.

Police officers from the Sub-Directorate for Combating Violence in the Sports Venues of Thessaloniki found him yesterday morning and handcuffed him.

The charges against him

As announced by EL.AS., the special investigator of Thessaloniki had issued an arrest warrant against him – which was validated by the Council of Appeals of Thessaloniki – for the offenses of active briberyjointly and consecutively, with the damage caused to the Greek State approaching 147,000 euros, and direct cooperation in money laundering from criminal activity (“money laundering“).

In addition, according to the same announcement, the 73-year-old has in his “asset” seven decisions, with which he was sentenced to a total of prison terms 33 years and 28.5 years in prison for her actions moral authorship in official disloyaltyjointly and severally, and of tax evasion.

The case of illegal VAT refunds was revealed in 2001, after a random inspection by the SDOE in a company in Thessaloniki.

The business in question consisted of an office with a telephone set, but its owners appeared to have exported products to Europe, producing dummy invoices, with which they collected VAT refunds amounting to several million drachmas (at the time). Investigations followed in dozens of other businesses in the city that followed the same practice.

Already, several of these cases have reached the criminal courts of Thessaloniki, with sworn tax officials and individuals ending up in prison.