Chief financial prosecutor Panayiotis Athanasiou on Thursday ordered local lenders to freeze the bank accounts of businessman Andreas Vgenopoulos in connection to a probe regarding allegations of tax evasion. The order also called for Vgenopoulos to lose access to his safe deposit boxes.
The move was part of a preliminary probe investigating allegations of tax evasion by hundreds of wealthy Greeks whose names appeared on a list based on information given to financial prosecutors by Greek credit institutions.
Sources said the investigation is expected to focus on 200 million euros in Vgenopoulos’s bank accounts, a sum which the businessman will have to prove does not constitute a product of tax evasion.
In a statement released on Thursday, Andreas Vgenopoulos refuted all allegations against him and said he had been notified of the decision through the media. He mentioned that the money under investigation was for the time period between 1/1/2002 and 31/12/2012 and that once he submits clarifications the issue will be closed. (ekathimerini, olympia.gr)
