Greece to Review Tax Evader Swiss Bank Account List

Christine Lagarde had previously handed the Greek government the list of tax evaders and it seems the criticism last week by the EU Troika (IMF, EU and EC) has paid off as there seems to be progress as Greek authorities are now reviewing the list.

Greek prosecutors are checking a list of possible tax cheats, court sources said on Thursday, in a case that has highlighted Athens’s failure to crack down on tax evasion, one of the factors behind the country’s financial crisis.

Given to Greece for a second time by French authorities on December 21, the list contains hundreds of names of Greek account holders at global bank HSBC (HSBA.L) in Switzerland, which authorities want to investigate over suspected tax evasion.

The affair has enraged the public and opposition parties already furious over the failure of consecutive governments to crack down on the rich and powerful, while years of recession have wiped out a fifth of economic output and hammered middle-class living standards.

France originally handed over the list to Athens in 2010. But former Greek government officials did not act on it, fuelling public anger and prompting suspicion that some names were erased before it was handed over to parliament earlier this year.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza