The prosecutor of the First Instance Court in Athens issued criminal counts and charges on tax evasion and money laundering against Dimitris Kontominas, the owner of private television channel Alpha TV.
According to Athens News Agency, “the charge concerns a sum of roughly 48 million euros that arose as a discrepancy between Kontominas’ declared income and the bank deposits in his name during the period 2006-2008.”
The case against Kontominas was the result of a roughly year-long investigation by financial prosecutors working with unified lists of tax-evaders, who had summoned him to explain the discrepancies in his financial affairs for the period in question.
Kontominas denied committing any illegal act and had appealed to the Disputes Resolution Department of the General Secretariat for Public Revenues office for After a second review of the figures, however, Kontominas’ case against them was dismissed.
“A year ago financial prosecutors had issued an order freezing Kontominas’ assets up to the sum of 100 million euros. The case file has now been forwarded from the first-instance court prosecutors to a special magistrate, who will summon the businessman to answer to the charges made against him.”
According to news website Enikos.gr, Kontominas has a further judicial case open, as he is among 35 defendants indicted to the three-member Court of Appeal for Felonies for the bad loans at Postbank.
As businessman, Kontominas is also involved “in insurance, retail trade and cinema”, so ANA.
At the recent TV licenses bid, Alpha TV did not manage to secure one as its offer was not competitive enough.
Dimitris Kominas issued a statement “in response to current publications on my prosecution for tax evasion and money laundering, that brutally attack and violate the presumption of my innocence,” as he notes and adds that he has appeal to court so clear the issue. He concludes that his prosecution is a clear effort to target him in relation to “current developments in TV licensing and aims to disorientate “the public opinion from the unprecedented overthrow of pluralism and independent media.”
Given the superpowers the occupation government has given to tax inspectors, anybody can be financially ruined in no time. It is enough to simply state that they don’t believe your declarations of income for the last fifteen years and ask you to pay whatever they like as extra taxes and fines. With another occupation forces “law”, you are practically not allowed to appeal in court.
Given the above it is impossible to know whether these “charges” are real or fake. Given the timing I would go for the latter.