Panagiotis Nikoloudis ( el, Παναγιώτης Νικολούδης; born 1949) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

prosecutor who served as the

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

for Combatting Corruption in the

Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou The Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou was formed following the resignation of the Syriza-ANEL coalition government on 20 August 2015, and the failure of opposition parties to form their own government. The cabinet was headed b ...

and the Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras.

Professional career

He had been deputy prosecutor-general of the Greek Supreme Court and chairman of the Finance Intelligence Unit, a watchdog responsible for investigating financial crimes. In February 2012, Nikoloudis revealed that one Member of the

Hellenic Parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule (ancient Greece), Boule of the Greeks, Hellenes, label=none), also kno ...

(MP) had deposited one million Euros abroad in May 2011. In a session of the parliamentary Committee for Institutions and Transparency, he said, "To take your money abroad is not a sin, it is not illegal in the formal sense of the law, but for me it is indicative." In response, the

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

Evangelos Venizelos Evangelos Venizelos (, ; born 1 January 1957) is a Greek academic and politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Greece and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 25 June 2013 to 27 January 2015. Previously, he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister ...

, revealed that the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Eco ...

had found a number of instances of MPs sending money abroad in 2011 and had asked for the Finance Intelligence Unit's help on a number of these cases.

Political career

On 27 January 2015, Nikoloudis was appointed as

for Combatting Corruption in

Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras ( el, Αλέξης Τσίπρας, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician serving as Leader of the Official Opposition since 2019. He served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. Tsipras has led the Coalition of th ...

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. Shortly after taking on the role, in February 2015, he said that he was targeting a "handful of families who think that the state and public service exists to service their own interests." However, in an interview, he elaborated that he was not just targeting the rich in general as "I would be crazy to think like that." In March 2015, it was announced that Nikoloudis was investigating 80,000 wealthy Greeks who were suspected of having at least 200,000 Euros each in undeclared funds in bank accounts abroad. Speaking to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', he said: "I'm not concerned about the so-called

Lagarde list The Lagarde List is a spreadsheet containing roughly 2,000 potential tax evaders with undeclared accounts at Swiss HSBC bank's Geneva branch. It is named after former French finance minister Christine Lagarde, who in October 2010 passed it on to Gre ...

. It's just a footnote in this overriding bid to hunt down tax cheats."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikoloudis, Panagiotis 1949 births Maniots Living people Greek prosecutors Independent politicians in Greece Ministers of State (Greece)