Foreign trade board staff given extra lump sum upon retirement
Hellenic Foreign Trade Board (HEPO) employees received an additional retirement lump sum that reached up to 177,000 euros each at the expense of the Greek state, Deputy Development Minister Notis Mitarakis revealed on Thursday in Parliament.
It is also possible that those amounts of money were not even taxed as personal income, as since late 2011 the additional lump sum coming from the state budget has been paid to retiring employees via Ethniki Insurance, the deputy minister added. He was speaking during a debate on the creation of a new single body to oversee exports.
The insurance policy that HEPO employees had with Ethniki was terminated on December 30, 2011, but the additional lump sum continued to be paid at the expense of HEPO – i.e. the state budget.
There are still 30 recipients who are entitled to get the lump sum that adds up to 3 million euros, though the new bill may prevent that.
