By Elena Galari

The lawyers of Theodoros Kasselakis developed their legal arguments before the 7-member composition of the 6th section of the Council of State, so that the father of the former president of SYRIZA, Stefanos Kasselakis, would not pay taxes amounting to 4,016,269 euros, which together with the 20-year increments, exceed 11.1 million euros for the two-story building villa in Ekali.

The owner of the villa appeared to be an offshore company which, however, was found to belong 50% to him and 50% to his wife Evangelia.

Theodoros Kasselakis argues that the income and property taxes for the villa in Ekali must be paid not by him but by the offshore company that owns the luxury house, within a plot of 2,905 sq.m.

During the discussion, the lawyers of Charalambos Pelekis and Dionysis Filippou stated that the offshore company has not been dissolved despite the fact that it has been dormant in Greece and that the taxes that have been charged must be paid by the Liberian company which is active and not by him, while they argued that with the decisions of the Administrative Courts, the constitutional protection of business freedom has been violated.

“In the event that a foreign company has as its sole object the exploitation of property it owns, which it then legally transfers with the result that every object of its activity disappears, while it is no longer located at its registered headquarters in Greece, this interruption of its activity, which in fact is final, is equivalent to the dissolution of this business in the sense of the tax provisions”, said the rapporteur Varvara Rautopoulou.

The SC reserved its decision.