PM unveils plans to re-establish financial police unit to fight tax evasion

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka has unveiled plans to re-establish a special financial police unit to combat tax evasion. In an interview for Czech public television, Mr. Sobotka said he wanted to establish something along the lines of Slovakia’s Cobra tax inspection team which uncovered tax fraud amounting to 94.2 million euros last year alone. The unit has made Slovakia one of the leading East European countries in fighting tax evasion. The Czech prime minister said he wanted a similar team in action in the Czech Republic by 2015 at the latest. The financial police as an independent force was disbanded seven years ago by them minister Ivan Langer. Improving tax collection is one of the new government’s top priorities.