Haris Theoharis

The coalition is seeking to put the controversial departure of tax chief Haris Theoharis behind it as it moves into the final straight before a cabinet reshuffle that is expected to take place on Monday.

As speculation continued about the reasons for the abrupt resignation on Thursday of the Finance Ministry's general secretary for public revenues, Haris Theoharis, the ministry on Friday announced that a tender for his successor has been posted on the government's online portal opengov.gr

The Finance Ministry’s general secretary for public revenues, Haris Theoharis, resigned from his post on Thursday, abruptly ending a job that was created in 2012 under pressure from Greece’s troika of international creditors with a view to making the country’s tax administration more independent.

Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras on Tuesday argued in favor of civil service salaries being based on performance in a document submitted to Parliament.

Stournaras was responding to a question by independent deputies Yiannis Kourakos and Nikos Nikolopoulos in regards to whether the ministry's general secretary for revenues, Haris Theoharis, receives bonuses.

The head of the Finance Ministry's General Secretariat for State Revenues, Haris Theoharis, warned on Friday that those submitting bogus data in a bid to qualify for a portion of the so-called social dividend, coming from Greece's primary surplus, would face criminal charges.

So far 185,000 of some 340,000 applications for a share of Greece’s 2013 primary surplus from low income groups have been approved, the government’s general secretary for revenues Haris Theoharis said on Monday.