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The government is moving forward with the suspension of criminal prosecution against people who have debts to the state (tax authorities, state enterprises), provided that they have settled their debts.<\/p>\n
Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis on Monday said an amendment will be included in a draft law on the capital market, according to which criminal prosecution will be suspended for anyone who settles and services their debts, while once the debt is paid off, proceedings will be stopped.<\/p>\n
Pierrakakis said that \u201cwith a provision that we are submitting to the draft law that is currently in Parliament on the capital market, if someone settles and services their debts, criminal prosecution will be suspended for as long as the settlement lasts and when they pay off the penalty, it will be eliminated.<\/p>\n
Of course if anyone stops paying, then the judicial process will move in reverse. We cannot inconvenience citizens, this is something that does not cost the state, but makes things much easier for citizens and this will also be our job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The provision essentially offers some breathing room to individuals with large debts exceeding 100,000 euros who, although they had included these debts in a settlement, remained subject to legal accountability, as they had been prosecuted by the audit and tax collection services of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) or were otherwise continuously exposed to the risk of criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n
In fact, in several cases, while the debtors had included their debt in a settlement plan under the risk of the case being time-barred, criminal prosecution was pursued before the five-year period had elapsed, at a time when the debtors were normally fulfilling their obligations.<\/p>\n
This was because the audit services, based on legislation, considered that the settlement did not constitute repayment of the debt and were forced to proceed with criminal prosecutions. Now, as long as the arrangement lasts, the criminal process will be suspended.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n