The tax administration ramps up the hunt for tax evaders

• ANAF has investigated over 8,000 cases of fraud and tax evasion last year, a 41% increase over 2009

• The calculated losses exceeds 1.3 billion Euros, up 45% over 2009

• The volume of drugs seized last year has increased 500 times

The losses found following the investigation of the cases of fraud and tax evasion by the National Tax Administration Agency (ANAF), reached 1.36 billion Euros in 2009, up 45.6% over the previous year, according to an official report by the Ministry of Finance presented in the Parliament.

These results came on the back of a 41.1% increase in the number of investigations performed by ANAF last year, (7,916 cases, compared to 5,546 in 2008).

The activity of ANAF for fighting fraud and tax evasion has focused on several directions.

The tax inspections were focused on taxpayers which were most likely to do tax evasion, selected based on a risk analysis: individuals involved in real estate development, who were required to register as VAT taxpayers, companies that posted losses in the years of economic growth, or those who reported VAT receivable, but did not request its reimbursement.

The second criterion for the frequency of the investigations was the request of the Police and the Public Prosecutor"s office.

The National Customs Authority had over 17,000 actions. The most shocking part in the report by the Ministry is the fact that last year, the amount of drugs that was seized increased 500 times, from just 2.8 kg in 2008, to 1415.1 kg.

How many tons of drugs weren"t seized?

The Ministry of Finance says that the Fraud Squad and the National Customs Authority will ramp up their monitoring of products which are subject to excises, of tax warehouses as well as border crossing checks, in particular in the Northern and Eastern sections.