Jan 3, 2024. Hellas. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
By Eleni
Stamatoukou
Greek media
outlet Documento has condemned the Independent Authority for Public Revenue
AADE for fining it 250,000 euros for taking black money under the table from
well-known clients who advertised in the newspaper, such as Coca-Cola,
Unilever, banks, government ministries and other famous institutions and
companies.
“For the
umpteenth time, there is an attempt to destroy Documento using illegal means to
raze the newspaper and the journalism it expresses … it is the worst form of
censorship we have faced so far,” Kostas Vaxevanis, Documento’s publisher, told
BIRN.
A financial
audit of Documento started in 2021, including from 2017, the newspaper’s
opening year, after anonymous letters were sent to AADE stating that the
newspaper was guilty of tax evasion.
However,
Antonis Rigopoulos, a journalist at Documento, claimed that “a mafia gang
inside the authority … was sending the anonymous letters, to justify the
initiation of a financial audit”.
The
authorities confirmed, after the audit ended, that no wrongdoing had been
found. However, in December 2023, without offering proof, AADE insisted the
newspaper had received black money under the table from its advertising
clients, and imposed a fine of 435,000 euros.
Documento
then lodged an objection on December 20, and, on December 29, AADE reduced the
fine to 250,000 euros. The newspaper must pay 50 per cent of the fine within
weeks.
Documento
journalists told BIRN that they would go to court. If they win, the fine money
will be returned to them, but it is a time-consuming process. If they don’t
pay, they meantime risk confiscation, as they will be big debtors to the state.
In February
2023, Documento angered the authorities when it published part of a report by
the Economic Crimes Enforcement Agency, SDOE. This revealed that direct
contracts awarded by the then-Secretary General of Anti-Crime Policy to combat
the spread of COVID-19 in prisons had lost the state €2 million.
One day
after publication, the Deputy Prosecutor at the Supreme Court asked the Athens
Prosecutor’s Office to investigate how the report came into journalists’ hands.
The Council
of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform has called on Greece to “drop the
investigation” into the journalists Kostas Vaxevanis, and Vangelis Triantis and
told it to “uphold the protection of journalistic sources”.
Balkaninsight
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