Singer gets suspended term for tax evasion
An Athens court on Wednesday handed down a suspended three-year prison sentence on veteran popular singer Tolis Voskopoulos for income tax evasion to the tune of 5.5 million euros.
The singer’s lawyer told the Athens Court of First Instance that Voskopoulos had been unable to sell properties to pay his dues as all his assets have been frozen. The lawyer argued too that his client’s income had dwindled significantly over the years and comprised only royalties from his records and 3,500 euros per month from a rented property in Korydallos, near Piraeus.
Last October, a rapporteur at the Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, recommended the dismissal of seven appeals lodged by Voskopoulos against the tax evasion charges.
The singer had appealed against the charges on the grounds of his health, which he claimed had deteriorated following heart surgery last May. The rapporteur called for the 70-year-old singer’s appeals to be dismissed as «unjustifiable.”
