The Anti-Money Laundering Authority proceeded with the seizure of the movable and immovable property of the well-known singer Antonis Remo after a months-long investigation triggered by the inconsistency of the declared incomes.

However, through his advocates, the popular artist denies the accusations.

The famous singer cannot withdraw a single euro from his bank accounts, after the commitment from the beginning for money laundering, his movable and immovable property, amounting to 1.3 million euros.

“He does not want special treatment, what applies to all Greeks he wants to apply to him as well. He regrets that his accounts were frozen. At the moment he cannot withdraw a single euro, that is to say the needs he has to cover for his family, for his partners, he will have to borrow, everything has been pledged and he does not know the reason“, says his lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos.

“The commitment is made in order to ensure the Greek public and that there is no time, so to speak, for the auditee to forward things. So the principle judges and binds before concluding“, estimates the tax expert Ilias Hatzigeorgiou.

After a months-long investigation, suspicions of tax evasion arise, while a specific company of the artist has come under the microscope.

“Our principal has a specific activity and some other, sideline if you like. We will see in which department or whether the whole range of these concerns the investigation and what we will be asked to provide answers to and we appreciate that we have answers for everything“, points out the artist’s other lawyer, Stathis Bakalis.

Through his lawyers he even denies that for the last 5 years he has declared an annual income of 50,000 euros.

“It does not correspond to reality that this man in the last five years had an income of 50,000 euros is false. The only thing that has a trace of reality is that in one tax period, his income was indeed 50,000, which explains why it was 50,000. All the rest the income was very large“, explains Michalis Dimitrakopoulos.

His lawyers are expected to go to the prosecutor’s office on Monday to ask for the investigation to be made a priority and to be called for explanations.

Renewable energy sources

The tax evasion amounting to 1.3 million euros for which the singer is being controlled seems to have been done with the “vehicle” of buying and selling a renewable energy company.

According to what the Anti-Money Laundering Authority has allegedly captured in its investigation, Antonis Remos has collected some money from a businessman who was active in the energy sector in order to buy a wind farm company.

The transaction, it was established by the Authority, was not completed, however the well-known singer seems to have kept the money without declaring it in his tax returns.

For the Authority, the above constitutes a method and for this reason the process of freezing his property proceeded.

According to information, Antonis Remos seems to have given part of this money to a businessman, his friend, in the form of a loan.

This entrepreneur is also controlled by the Authority.

A secondary strand in the investigation is the discrepancy observed between the declared income, the 50,000 euros plus shares from dividends in companies he owns, and his actual income.

All this has been captured in a 20-page finding submitted by the Anti-Money Laundering Authority to the District Attorney’s Office on June 11 with the file charged for further investigation to a Prosecutor a week ago.