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April 22, 2015

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BUSTED - Authorities arrest L. Bobolas for tax evasion

Businessman (and one of Greece's most influential oligarchs) Leonidas Bobolas was arrested on Wednesday for tax evasion. The businessman, 53, who heads the ELLAKTOR company, was arrested by financial police after a Public Order was issued against him for tax evasion. (His family has a large share of MEGA tv, as well as other publications). Bobolas was then immediately led before a Greek prosecutor.

According to SKAI tv and reporter Ioanna Mandrou, the order was issued on Tuesday afternoon and concerns (possible undeclared) funds (13 million euros) that she claims were discovered on the Lagarde List as well as in other foreign accounts.

Leonidas Bobolas paid a 1.8 million euro bail after he was arrested on tax evasion and money laundering charges, in relation to the Lagarde list investigations. Reports said that the charges against him concern a sum of 4 million euros. He was contacted to pay 2 million euros, but never did.

That is why he was arrested and then taken before a Greek prosecutor, where he faced the examiner and responded to the charges.

His brother Fotis Bobolas (huge stake owner of Teletypos and MEGA channel) has also reportedly paid a 1.8-million-euro fine.

A news report at 13:00 on Skai Tv also said that Bobolas decided to pay his more than 1.8 million debt in taxes and hinted that charges would soon be dropped against him.

Leonidas Bobolas' father, George, has developed properties all over the Balkan region and the M.East for over the past 40 years. The family, which owns stakes in the TV channel MEGA, also has stakes in many publications. One of his sons, Fotis, is the director of Teletypos, or MEGA channel's holding company. His other son, Leonidas, is the chief executive and a major shareholder of ELLAKTOR, a construction giant founded by his father that has participated in multi-billion euro contracts with the state. The family as a whole also controls the Ethnos newspaper, other print media and/or  websites. Their publications always served the interests of the PASOK party, and were paramount in the information war during Costas Simitis' rule (1996-2004).

Bobolas' family "feels" the anger of society against all these austerity measures, but his multinational ELLAKTOR company is forcing drivers to pay hefty tolls on most of the country's motorways -which coincidentally are managed by him and even though the Greek state funded these works with taxpayer money!

Attiki Motorway costs 2.80 Euros, and is used by approximately 250,000 vehicles daily. Anyone who wants to travel to Thessaloniki, from Athens, by car needs to pay at least 25 Euros in tolls. When the initiative called the "I won't pay the tolls' movement made their appearance it apparently soured Bobolas' interests since they not only refused to pay the tolls, but reports have said that they also caused damages at the booths by sawing bars, etc.

It should be reminded that Bobolas' family belongs to a handful of powerful Greek families, which, for decades now, have formed the existing political, economic and social system in Greece reaping in huge profits. Now that Greece is standing at the edge of the cliff, these people continue to refuse to take any responsibility. Instead, businessmen such as Bobolas, are speculating on new state projects, while others lurk on opportunities arising from the privatization of state property. (Read more on Greece's oligarchs by clicking HERE).

Source: SKAI tv news, ProtoThema, Kathimerini, HellasFrappe archives

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