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Greece

Tobacco Smuggling: Smoking the Taxes Away

More than 33 million packs of illicit cigarettes have been confiscated in the Greek and Cypriot customs at the end of January by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the General Secretariat against corruption (AFCOS Greece). The two organizations...

Tobacco Smuggling Soars In Greece

With the government increasing taxes across the board, more Greeks are turning to buying smuggled tobacco products, costing the country at least 600 million euros ($780.5 million) in lost revenues from 2011-12, a survey by the Center of Planning...

SDOE Targets Tobacco Smuggling

The bulk tobacco ban of 2013, reminds of the ban imposed in Greece 130 years ago as the country's financial crimes squad SDOE is again trying to crack down on the elusive crime of tobacco smuggling, which has a...

Greece Releases List of Blatant Tax Evasion and Smuggling Cases

The Greek finance ministry on Wednesday tabled in parliament a list of blatant tax evasion and smuggling cases, as an addition to the state budget. The list of major tax evasion cases included countless fake invoices, businesses that were shut...

IOBE Warns New Tax Hikes on Tobacco Products Will Cause Loss of €100 Million Euros State Revenue

On Monday a new report by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) warned that the new tax hike to be placed on tobacco products starting January 1, 2017 will actually cause a 100 million euro annual loss in...

Increasing Cigarette Tax Driving Consumers to Illegal Tobacco Market

According to sources, the Greek state has missed out on an opportunity to reap around 800 million euros in tax revenues due to tax hikes on cigarettes in 2016, as consumers turn to illegal tobacco markets. The data shows that...

Contraband Tobacco Costs Greece Up to €1 Billion a Year

The Greek government is losing up to 1 billion euros every year from the sale of contraband cigarettes and tobacco. Last year, Greece lost an estimated 740 million euros in revenue, up from 565 million euros in 2013. The figures...

Financial Crisis Sparks Cigarette Smuggling in Greece

Nearly a quarter of tobacco products used in Greece are likely to have been smuggled in to the country, according to the latest data from the Center For Planning and Economic Research (KEPE). KEPE's survey aimed to define the extent of...

PAOK Owner's Ties to Greek Government Fray

The relationship between businessman Ivan Savvidis and the Greek government is shaking after the PAOK owner stormed his team's pitch at Toumba Stadium on Sunday sporting a handgun. Sunday's incident in Thessaloniki made headlines in the domestic media and circulated...

Abducted Man Found Dead North of Athens

A 60-year-old man who was abducted on April 16 in Aspropyrgos, west of Athens, was found murdered north of the capital at Mornos river in Viotia. The victim, an ethnic Greek from Kazakhstan, was found dead at the irrigation channel...

Greek Tax Office to Seize Debtors' Bank Accounts, Safety Deposit Boxes

A million Greek taxpayers with debts to the state could see their bank accounts and deposits raided. The Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) plan for 2018 will also see more than 200,000 audits of corporations, companies, small businesses, bars, restaurants, professionals...

Police Raid Illegal Cigarette Manufacturing Facilities Near Athens

Greek police seized 70 tonnes of smuggled tobacco and 8.8 million cigarette packets at two illegal tobacco manufacturing facilities in Aspropyrgos, west of Athens. A total of 40 people are thought to be involved in the racket. Police believe that they...

Greece Ranks 2nd in Counterfeit and Contraband Consumption in EU

Greece continues to have the 2nd highest rate of C&C (Counterfeit and Contraband, including Illicit Whites) consumption in the EU, at 19% of total consumption, KPMG said in a Project Sun key findings report prepared for the Royal United...

Tsipras-Mitsotakis Battle it out in Greek Parliament Over Controversial Bill

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis exchanged harsh words in Greek Parliament on Friday over a controversial bill exempting a certain businessman of fines. The bill amendment appeared in the House at the last minute on...

Greece to Name and Shame Large Debtors to the State

Greece's finance ministry has decided on a policy to publicize the names of people who owe over 300,000 euros to the tax office or to pension and security funds. According to Alternate Finance Minister Tryfon Alexiadis, the names will be uploaded...