Samos restaurant owner handed suspended jail sentence for blocking tax officials

A restaurant owner on the eastern Aegean island of Samos was handed a 12-month suspended jail sentence on Wednesday over her refusal to allow tax officials to seal her business, and for trying to intimidate them.

According to the case file, auditors of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR) had arrived at the restaurant in order to seal it and suspend its activities for 48 hours over its owner’s failure to comply with tax regulations.

But they were verbally assaulted by the owner, who also tore up the sealing order paper. Moreover, one of the auditors said he had received a threatening phone call from the suspect. The local union of tax officials issued a statement condemning the incident and demanding protection of its members from incidents such as Wednesday’s.

The court also ordered the suspension of the restaurant’s operation for 12 days instead of the original two.