Significant data on asset attachments was presented by the head of the Authority for Black Money Laundering, at the Delphi Forum.

Speaking at the Delphi Economic Forum, Haralambos Vourliotis said that commitments related to illegal subsidies of OPEKEPE reach up to 500 million euros.

At the same time, he underlined that the total amount of the Authority’s commitments in one year reaches 1 billion. euros, reflecting the intensity of audits.

Referring to the “behind-the-scenes” checks, he noted that in a sample of 170.000 debtors thousands of violations have been detected, with amounts reaching up to 500,000 euros per case.

He expressed particular concern about the level of corruption, stressing that, although it is a European phenomenon, in Greece it tends to be treated as an everyday occurrence.

Finally, he revealed that investigations are underway into dozens of individuals linked to terrorist activity or terrorist financing, with millions of euros committed as part of the relevant checks.

As for the terrorism investigations, he said they “include persons related to geopolitical developments in our region” and said the relevant list of persons under scrutiny “is extremely dynamic, in which every day persons are added and removed, either by decisions of the Authority, or of the UN Security Council, or of the European Union, and the amount of commitments for this type of activities is too many millions“.

Furthermore, he said that “our Authority has been involved in the issue of subsidies due to the war going on in Ukraine, but also in the case of Iran“. From 2020-2021, when the Russian-Ukrainian conflict began, “we have imposed many sanctions on persons, mainly Russian nationals associated with the Russian regime, who provided services to or collaborated with the regime.” Furthermore, he said that “of course, whatever circumstantial evidence was found in Greece, was bound.”

Also, on the case of Iran, Mr. Vourliotis stressed that many shipments were tied up carrying dual-purpose products, i.e. products that can be used for both peaceful and warlike purposes. “There are raw materials that can be used for the production of computers and fertilizers and these are bound in Greek territorial waters,” he explained. He added that “many such commitments have been made” and the sanctions include an Iranian-owned credit institution (bank).

With regard to the audit of the criminal record, Vourliotis revealed that “there are thousands and thousands of violations“. Lately, in fact, a phenomenon has been detected, which he called the “white glue” phenomenon. And he clarified: “Many return filers are limited to one submission, hitting the ‘submit return’ button, which contains nothing at all.” “That means if they find me, they found me. However, we,” he added, “we detect these cases and we have found that this is how huge amounts are hidden from obligors who cannot in any way justify the income they have.”

At the same time, Mr. Vourliotis, responding to questions from journalist Ioanna Mandrou, who moderated the discussion, about corruption phenomena in our country, among other things, stressed: “I would be disingenuous if I said that there is no corruption in Greece” and added that “it would be inconsistent to claim that only in Greece the phenomenon exists and nowhere else.”

Focusing on the Greek reality, Mr. Vourliotis said that the biggest problem for the country is that corruption has started to become a commonplace: “With the passage of time, corruption in the Greek reality is starting to become a culture of tolerance, a culture of approval and, in the end, a culture of imitation,” he said, noting that this trend is amplifying the problem.

“People themselves need to bring out the principles they serve, whether they are in independent authorities or in the judiciary.” he stressed, adding that the institution of justice remains respected, but we should not ignore the failures of some who create grounds for questioning.

“We ourselves, those who serve in institutions such as the Justice and the independent authorities, must, by our manner, our behaviour and our attitude, bring out the principles and make them famous,” he said, adding that this is the only way to avoid further devaluation.

As for the management of the judiciary’s decisions by political parties, he said that “the political system, in its attempt to benefit, will seek to mounds the Justice in a way that is not allowed and thus harms Justice”. Elsewhere, he said “he has not been subjected to political pressure”in the performance of his duties.

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