Appointed by Gikas Hardouvelis Preceded by Haris Theoharis | Name Katerina Savvaidou | |
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Prime Minister Antonis Samaras
Alexis Tsipras Alma mater University of Athens
Pantheon-Assas University | ||
Education Pantheon-Assas University | ||
Katerina Savvaidou (Greek: Κατερίνα Σαββαΐδου) is a Greek lawyer who served as the Secretary General of Public Revenue in the Ministry of Finance from 24 June 2014 to 22 October 2015, when she was dismissed from office by the cabinet in a unanimous decision. She was born in Athens in October 10th, 1972.
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Education
Savvaidou studied law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 1995 before completing several postgraduate qualifications at the Panthéon-Assas University in Paris. Those included a diploma in French studies (DEUF), a Master's degree in public law (DEA de Droit Public Intern), a master's degree in public finance and tax law (DEA de Finances Publiques et Fiscalite) and a PhD with the thesis title: "The compulsory collection of taxes in French and Greek law". Her PhD was completed in 2003. From 2008 to 2009 she completed a postgraduate program on "Comparative Tax Policy and Administration" at Harvard University.
Academic career
Savvaidou has pursued post-doctoral research into corporate taxation at the University of Athens. She has also taught at the University of Athens, the National School of Public Administration and the National School of Judges. She is currently a lecturer at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Professional career
Savvaidou has worked as an adviser to the Ministry of Finance and to the private sector over the issue of tax. Before becoming the Secretary General, she worked as a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Savvaidou became the Secretary General of Public Revenue on 24 June 2014, succeeding Haris Theoharis, who cited personal reasons for his resignation. The role effectively made Savvaidou the top tax official in Greece as she was made head of the public revenue authority, responsible for tax collection.
Controversy
On 16 October 2015, the Minister of Finance, Euclid Tsakalotos, at the request of the Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, asked Savvaidou to resign. This took place because an anti-corruption prosecutor, Yiannis Dragatsis, had filed charges against her and she was expected to answer questions over them on 20 October.
On 20 October, Savvaidou faced allegations from anti-corruption prosecutor Yiannis Dragatsis over two separate incidents: one concerned a decision to review a fine of €78 million imposed on an IT firm, whilst the second involved the extension of the time that television channels had to pay a special tax on advertising revenue. In a statement released on the same day, Savvaidou rebuffed both of the charges, claiming that neither of the charges leveled against her resulted in losses for the state.
On 22 October, the "cabinet unanimously accepted the proposal of the Finance Minister to dismiss" Savvaidou from her role. There were some suspicions that the move was politically motivated. In a statement issued in response to her dismissal, Savvaidou said that: "I refused to resign from my post, because I cannot depart at a time when my attention to duties is being questioned in such an unfounded manner and my honesty and dignity is being slighted".