A Greek journalist has appeared in court in Athens after publishing a list of 2,059 high-profile alleged tax-dodgers in the cash-strapped country.
Costas Vaxevanis, editor of weekly magazine “Hot Doc”, faced the court on Thursday, accused of violating a law on personal data. The list, he claims, was given in 2010 by Christine Lagarde, current head of the International Monetary Fund, to then Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou. “The Lagarde list” was then believed lost for two years, but resurfaced in early October, when Greek media printed stories regarding other lists containing names of politicians allegedly probed for their financial transactions. The list Vaxevanis published contains names of heavyweight former ministers and businessmen, including Leonidas Tzanis, former Greek deputy interior minister, who committed suicide in the beginning of October.
It claims the people named on the list have made major deposits in Swiss banks, inferring that many avoiding paying tax in Greece, a nation embroiled in a debt crisis since 2009. “The government estimates that it loses roughly five billion euros in taxes a year,” he reported from Athens. “That’s a rough estimate because it’s based on the estimate of the economy that is unregulated. The OECD has put that at another one-third of the economy over again. The Greek economy this year is about 194 billion euros, so think of another 70 billion euros of that economy going unregulated and untaxed.” Greek officials have shown they are willing to take a tough line, regardless of concerns of political involvement in the freedom of speech, our correspondent noted.
“What the lawyers here have been arguing is that the law cannot, on the one hand, bring people in to pay the taxes that they are trying to avoid paying, and on the other hand, try to gag those journalists who would assist that process.
“The government has actually shown its stand on issues of this kind – a few weeks ago, it dismissed, prematurely, the head of the state news agency, the ANA, for allegedly – according to his statement – running a story on the ‘Lagarde list” and refusing to suppress it.” Two journalists were recently dismissed after discussing whether or not the justice minister should resign – following his admission that police brutality was evident in a case involving anti-racism protesters. A strike was being observed by state media workers on Wednesday in solidarity with the sacked journalists.
In a statement to the media, 46-year-old Vaxevanis said that he has been unfairly targeted. He argued that authorities should instead target tax-dodgers and state officials who do not crack down on tax evasion. “We will endure this. Will they?” Vaxevanis tweeted ahead of the trial. In an article in The Guardian newspaper earlier this week, Vaxevanis wrote: “In Ancient Greek mythology, justice is presented as blind. In modern Greece, it is merely winking and nodding… justice remains in thrall to politics.
“Dealings with banks are carried out in public, not in secrecy. The existence of a bank account is therefore not personal data.” The allegations of tax evasion against the wealthy as well as the inability of authorities to tackle the phenomenon have increased tension in recession-hit Greece, as the government plans to pass new harsh austerity and reform measures on the already burdened middle class and low-income earners. Greece has pledged to implement a tough stability and reform programme in return for vital multi-billion euro bailout loans since 2010, so as to keep the country afloat and avert a disorderly default.
