October 2024

Decision of the Athens Misdemeanor Court on Acquittal in a Case of Acceptance of Fictitious/False Invoices

A recent decision was issued by the Single-Member Misdemeanor Court of Athens, acquitting on the merits our client – the legal representative of a public limited company – for the offense of tax evasion, following the alleged acceptance of fictitious tax documents under €75,000 (Articles 66(5) and 67 of the former Code of Tax Procedure). The court accepted the defendant's claims, a) regarding the actual existence of the disputed transactions and b) regarding the lack of intent – motive for committing the alleged act by the company's legal representative. Specifically, the court found that the transactions were real, given that the disputed allegedly fictitious tax documents had been settled through bank transfers, and that the invoices in question corresponded to the services provided (in this case, advertising services).

As for the intent, the court accepted that the legal representative had no motive to accept the relevant tax documents, amounting to €30,000, as the company during the audited period had a large turnover of nearly €19,000,000 and had made expenses amounting to €16,000,000, effectively concluding that the benefit of the company from accepting the alleged fictitious tax documents would have been almost negligible, as it would correspond to nearly 1/1000 of the company's total expenses.