ECONOMY

Financial prosecutors to issue call for more staff

Financial prosecutors will be warning the government that tens of millions of euros could be lost because of staff shortages, at was is a particularly crucial period for the Greek economy.

Kathimerini understands that the prosecutors investigating major tax evasion cases will be sending in the next few days a letter to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis demanding more staff.

Besides presenting the progress they have made in the past few years, the prosecutors will also list the cases in which they have been successful, mainly regarding major depositors and money sent illegally abroad. However, the focus of the letter is said to be on the danger of the state missing out on millions of euros because there are not enough employees to go through the huge volume of transaction data and lists that are under scrutiny.

Sources add that the prosecutors will ask for as many as 150 Finance Ministry employees to contribute to efforts to crack down on major tax evasion cases.

Ministry officials confirm the volume of the work that needs to be done, saying there are lists with a total of 25,000 major cases of undeclared income, which, according to preliminary estimates, add up to 15 billion euros. The government has said it expects revenues of 1 billion euros from cracking down on tax evasion this year.

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