Alleged violations of China’s capital controls in Greek real estate transactions linked with the so-called “Golden Visa” program have involved a high-profile executive vice-president of the Jumbo group, one of the biggest toy and children’s retailers in southeast Europe, naftemporiki.gr reports.
News of the financial investigation by Chinese authorities generated an immediate reaction in Athens this week, with Jumbo founder and CEO Apostolos Vakakis reportedly requesting the resignation of the ATHEX-listed company’s VP and board member Evangelos Papaevangelou.
The latter has founded a real estate holding and management company over the recent period – completely separate from Jumbo – that has aggressively entered in the property sector in the east Mediterranean country, especially in e-auctions.
Regulators in Beijing are focusing on POS payments – through Greek banks – by PRC nationals to acquire property in Greece, thereby taking advantage of the visa program. The latter grants third country nationals a residency visa when they purchase real estate in Greece with transactions exceeding 250,000 euros.
Reports on Wednesday morning in the Greek capital cited possible involvement by Greek tax authorities, given that the “golden visa” program reportedly does not envision the use of POS payments.
“There is no surprise in the field of realtors regarding the specific pyramid program of buying and selling properties to Chinese involving a Greek businessman. It was known to all that there are groups of people, who in cooperation with Chinese agents, buy apartments at ridiculously low prices which they then transfer to the Chinese, earning thousands of euros from this procedure and the finals buyer takes the residency permit in our country”, commented Ioannis Revythis, president of the Realtors Federation Greece, according to ANA.
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