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Secretariat for revenues to gain autonomy from ministry
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By Prokopis Hatzinikolaou
The government is set to fulfill one of the demands of its creditors for granting autonomy to the General Secretariat for Revenues from the Finance Ministry, with the aim of creating a body that will be free of the “bad habits” of the state mechanism and of political influence. The secretariat, which is currently led by Haris Theoharis, will have its own budget, will answer only to the finance minister himself and will soon incorporate the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) and the General Secretariat of Information Systems (GSIS). The government is expected to present Parliament in the next few days with the special clauses for the reform of the secretariat, given that the current system is unable to meet the targets set by the budget in the domains of revenues and inspections. According to the government’s bailout agreement with its international creditors, some 330 regular checks on major enterprises should be completed by the end of June. This number should rise to 750 by the end of the year. Yet in the year’s first month no more than four checks have been completed, though another 309 are reported to be ongoing. | 
