Tax officer convicted of embezzling 320,000 euros receives lighter sentence

A Thessaloniki court of appeals on Tuesday commuted the sentence of a tax officer convicted of embezzling 320,000 euros from the Kilkis tax authority to a non-custodial sentence of six years, payable at a rate of 3 euros a day.

The case pertains to the retired public official’s activities in 2011-2013, when she was head of the tax authority’s revenues department. According to the case file, she kept duplicate records of payments made by taxpayers and skimmed off large amounts that she kept for herself.

The five judges on the panel of the Thessaloniki Court of Appeals reduced her sentence from the original nine years behind bars after taking into account her otherwise clean criminal record.

A colleague called as a witness testified that the unnamed official bullied her staff so they would not pursue any suspicions they had about her activities.