You're reading: Greek tourism minister sacked over husband’s taxes

ATHENS, May 17 (Reuters) - Prime Minister George Papandreou sacked his tourism minister on Monday after press revelations that her husband, a popular singer, owed the government more than 5 million euros ($6.35 million) in taxes.

The reports, which were confirmed by the Finance Ministry, were the first major blow to the government as it tries to impose wage cuts and tax hikes to save the country from bankruptcy amid strong public reaction.

"Angela Gerekou submitted her resignation out of sensitivity and to avoid causing any damage to the government," government spokesman George Petalotis said in a statement.

Gerekou, a former actress who posed for the Greek edition of Playboy in 1996, got her first government job as Deputy Culture Minister in charge of tourism in the Papandreou cabinet after he won elections in October.

The liberal daily Eleftherotypia revealed on Monday Gerekou’s husband, Tolis Voskopoulos, a popular Greek singer in the 1970s and 1980s, owed 5.5 million euros in unpaid taxes and penalties and that the two had filed joint tax declarations for years.

The main conservative opposition New Democracy party immediately urged Papandreou to sack Gerekou: "This is a major moral and political issue," it said in a statement.

Asked by reporters during the daily briefing, Petalotis initially said this was a private matter. But the government, apparently fearing a public backlash, later ordered a ministerial investigation.

"The Finance Ministry feels that measures taken to collect this big amount have obviously not been sufficient," the ministry said in statement, confirming the reports. "The law will be applied to the letter."

The cash-strapped government has declared war on tax dodgers, particularly in the professions and show business. Papandreou has also slashed the income of civil servants and pensioners to save money and qualify for an international bailout of 110 billion euros.

Gerekou is the second cabinet member to quit since the Socialists’ came to power. In December, Deputy Interior Minister Dinos Rovlias stepped down after allegations that he had intervened on behalf of police and army personnel who sought transfers to other posts.

But her case broke as tough austerity measures are being imposed and immediately angered many Greeks, who flooded blogs with calls to stop paying taxes and demanding justice.
"Shame, shame, shame," wrote an anonymous blogger on the Troktiko blog. "I asked the tax office for a week to pay my dues and it said no, but they got off the hook for 17 years. The rest of us are all idiots."