Chr. Staikouras: We reduced the smuggling of fuel, tobacco and alcoholic beverages

The five nominated by the Minister of Finance for their appointment to the positions of members of the Board of Directors of the Independent Public Revenue Authority were approved by a majority by the Parliamentary Institutions and Transparency Committee.

The deputies of ND, PASOK-KINAL and the Hellenic Solution were in favor of the candidacy of the five new members of AADE. On the part of the other opposition parties, SYRIZA declared “present” while KKE and MERA25 voted against, clarifying that their vote has nothing to do with individuals but with their disagreement with the institution imposed and controlled by the country’s creditors.

The new members of AADE are: Emilios Galariotis, Konstantinos Eleftheriou, Eleftherios Kritikos, Christos Kotsogiannis and Nikolaos Mylonas.

The Institutions Committee also unanimously agreed that in the immediate future, the chairman of AADE should be invited to inform, in a joint meeting with the Finance Committee, about the results of its work and especially regarding fuel smuggling and tax evasion.

Both the Minister of Finance, Christos Staikouras, and the Chairman of the Institutions Committee, Thanassis Bouras, agreed with the request of the SYRIZA MP, George Katrougalos, to be summoned immediately and to inform its members, the President of AADE.

The Minister of Finance suggested that the members of the Finance Committee of the Parliament also participate in the briefing.

The former Speaker of Parliament and SYRIZA MP, Nikos Voutsis, raised “the major issue of tackling and combating fuel smuggling”, as he characterized it, pointing out that the president of AADE must inform the members of the Institutions Committee by submitting specific information.

“Despite the technological and legislative interventions that have been made to tackle tax evasion and fuel smuggling, this phenomenon continues to be a major scourge that reaches names very high in our country, and has created a blood cycle – because there are many “There are dozens of assassination attempts. Behind these extreme illegal actions are gas stations, solvents, tax evasion on oil, and this is a huge issue,” said Mr. Voutsis.

Responding, the Minister of Finance pointed out that the phenomenon of fuel smuggling has been significantly reduced, with our country managing to approach the European average.

“The government has improved the institutional framework for tackling the smuggling of fuel, tobacco and alcoholic beverages to reduce it. It is a transnational, transnational phenomenon.

Assessing the budget data, it turns out that there is progress in tackling the problem. With the utilization of the new institutional framework and the modern technical means that are now used, we have significant successes, especially in terms of tobacco and alcoholic beverages and then fuel, which is the main pillar of tax evasion.

“When the president of ADAE comes to the Parliament to inform, to give the data for the smuggling and the tax evasion”, Mr. Staikouras underlined.

For their part, all the proposed members for the staff of AADE, assured that they will consistently serve this important institution, as they said, which aims to serve correctly, effectively and transparently the whole society and the homeland.

For his part, justifying his proposal, the finance minister emphasized the candidates’ CVs, stressing that all five are of “recognized prestige of high scientific knowledge”.

“With the financial uncertainty intensifying due to the consequences of the ongoing crisis, they will strengthen the Authority in its work to respond immediately and effectively to the new challenges, focusing on securing public revenues and combating tax evasion and smuggling by providing high quality services.

We estimate that through its continuous upgrade, AADE will be an effective, dynamic and innovative organization “, Mr. Staikouras underlined.

Source: AMPE