Romania’s Attorney General, Alex Florenza, says the €1 million limit, up to which accused tax evaders can avoid criminal liability if they pay damages, is “too high”.

“Even if this approach isn’t necessarily wrong at its core, the limit to which we reach to be able to apply these benefits of full payment is really a debate. As far as I am concerned, I think the limit of one million euros is too high, at least for Romania’s current level. I also believe that certain benefits of this type, in the sense of compensation for damage with a certain additional sanction, should, in turn, be broken down depending on the moment when this manifestation of will occurs during criminal prosecution,” Oleksiy said. Florența, on Tuesday evening, on TVR Info, reports Agerpres.

According to him, at the moment there is a typology, namely that any defendant who is investigated for tax evasion tends to wait almost until the end of the process, which can stretch, due to the complexity of the cases, to five or six years, and apply to this method of payment of the loss in order to take advantage of this reduction or exemption from liability at its final stage.

“If we do apply such a relief, I believe it should be more correct, more profound, and perhaps with an increase in these sanctions, which are added to the total damages, depending on the point at which the expression of will intervenes. If, say, the defendant appeals to this benefit and agrees to pay damages during a criminal investigation, thus avoiding the legal costs associated with a lengthy trial, that penalty should be, say, 20-25% at trial. If he goes to the next step, he decides to go to court, and at first instance, depending on the evidence presented, he decides to apply for this relief, the percentage should be higher because you have already incurred additional legal costs, say 50% And if in the end you decide to bring the process to the end and only before the final guilty verdict is issued, you understand to resort to such a procedure, let the sanction be even greater, let it be 100% paid in addition to the initial damage,” said the Prosecutor General.

See also:

Čolaku and Chuke project to combat tax evasion: those who steal between €100,000 and €1 million but return the money go unpunished / Opposition warns that the project will decriminalize tax evasion

USR and Forța Dreptei sent the controversial tax evasion bill to the Constitutional Court

Tax consultants, letter to Johannis: Čolak and Chuke’s tax evasion project is open to interpretation and full of errors / In addition, it has logical problems and contradictions: it attacks conscientious taxpayers