A weeding party in Serres ended up with an angry crowd attacking tax inspectors, one tax officer in hospital and the closure of the venue where a newly wed couple was celebrating the happiest moment of their lives with relatives and friends.
Two auditors of the Independent Tax Authority visited the venue in Kerkini by Serres in order to control whether the facility owner had issued the necessary receipts.
The annoyed owner tried to send the auditors away and as they did not go he incited the wedding guests against them. He reportedly grabbed the microphone and told the wedding company that the service cannot continue due to the tax controllers.
The two tax inspector found themselves in the kitchen surrounded by a group of 50 angry people who reportedly beaten them..
According to the head of the Serres Tax Union, Giorgos Navrozidis, the auditors are in good health, although one of them had to receive first aid in a nearby hospital for the bruises he had suffered.
Some of the violent guests were detained by police, Navrozidis told media. “They shouted at the inspectors, booed them, grabbed them and even spitted at them,” he said adding that the shirt of one inspector was teared apart.
The auditors went to police station where they filed a law suit.
Police temporarily closed the venue and arrested the 44-year-old owner. He faces charges of “violence against state officials.”
He was fined with 2,500 euros and his facility will remain closed for a month.
It is not a rare phenomenon that owners attack tax inspectors when they go for control.
