Findings raise eyebrows
An investigation into money transferred to foreign banks by civil servants since 2010, when Greece’s brutal debt crisis erupted, has come up with some striking findings.
The checks, which were carried on the order of Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, found that a total of 5,260 civil servants, or their spouses, transferred in excess of 100,000 euros abroad.
Authorities now have to check the asset declaration documents submitted by those employees in order to validate the legitimacy of the transfers. And, to be sure, no one can claim a priori that the money in question is in fact shady money.
It should be noted at this point that investigations into the various lists of depositors suspected of tax evasion are still pending. The authorities’ failure to probe high-profile cases raises questions about the two-speed approach adopted in cases of suspected tax evasion.
