The Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights Nikos Paraskevopoulos revealed that in December 2014 there were 81,060 tax cases still pending in the courts, at the request of New Democracy MP Evripidis Stylianidis.
According to the Ministry of Justice there were 1,034,685 outstanding cases on the 31st of December 2014: 345,942 in the local courts (civil proceedings), 246,623 in first instance courts (civil proceedings), 38,027 in the appeal courts (civil proceedings), 356,498 in administrative first instance courts and 47,595 in administrative appeal courts.
In greater details, there is a total of 81.060 tax-related cases, of which 67.678 are awaiting trial in the administrative first instance courts and the remaining 13,382 cases in the administrative appeal courts.
Mr. Paraskevopoulos commented that efforts are being made in order to drastically reduce the red tape so that court proceedings and the service of justice can be expedited. Mr. Stylianidis had previously stressed that the delays deprive the State of huge sums, while creating sustainability problems for businesses and professionals with pending lawsuits against the State.
