“Instead of arresting the tax evaders and the ministers who had the list in their hands, they are trying to arrest the truth and free journalism.”
~Kostas Vaxevanis, the owner and editor of Hot Doc
A magazine editor published the list of 2,059 Greek citizens with bank accounts at the HSBC in Geneva that came from an anonymous leak from an HSBC employee. This list included the speaker of the Greek Parliament, several employees of the Finance Ministry, famous celebrities and businessmen; the speaker of the Greek Parliament did not disclose this bank account and vehemently denies it.
The magazine redacted how much money was in each account, but it did say the largest deposits were €500 million Euros (or $646 million). Within hours of publication – the police were looking to arrest the editor. The Greek government has been sitting on this list of potential tax evaders for two years and has done NOTHING with it.
NADA. ZIP. BUPKUS. ZILCH. The Greeks need to overthrow their government and leave the Eurozone; control their own currency, throw out the bankers, fire the politicians and create a new Constitution just like Iceland.
When you read this story …. just remember a few things here.
#1 – Greek citizens have had to undergo unbelievable austerity measures that have absolutely crippled their economy (source); they are going through an economic DEPRESSION there and the middle class is getting screwed.
#2 – The Swiss Bank – HSBC – which is at the epicenter of this scandal has already been busted in the U.S. of money laundering and tax evasion for wealthy clients, drug traffickers, and terrorist organizations (source). No – I’m not kidding.
3 – This was only ONE bank. There are 211 banks listed in Switzerland with eight MAJOR banks; HSBC is not one of the major banks (source). So how many wealthy people in the world do you think are hiding wealth in Swiss bank accounts and how much? The former chief economist at McKinsey Consulting who specialized in tax evasion and loopholes says AT LEAST $21 trillion (source).
Reuters has the story HERE:
Greek police are seeking to arrest the editor of a weekly magazine for publishing a list of more than 2,000 names of wealthy Greeks who have placed money in Swiss bank accounts, police said on Saturday.The so-called “Lagarde List” – given to Greece by French authorities in 2010 with names to be probed for possible tax evasion – has been a topic of heated speculation in Greek media in recent weeks. It is named after International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who was French finance minister when the list was handed over.The “Hot Doc” magazine published the list of 2,059 names including some well-known figures on Saturday. The magazine said it had been sent the list anonymously. Authorities did not confirm if the list was authentic.
But the NY Times gets really, really in depth with this and explains in a must read HERE:
Hot Doc said its version of the list matches the one that Christine Lagarde, then the French finance minister and now the head of the International Monetary Fund, had given her Greek counterpart in 2010 to help Greece crack down on rampant tax evasion as it was trying to steady its economy. The 2,059 people on the list are said to have had accounts in a Geneva branch of HSBC.Questions about the handling of the original list reached a near frenzy in Athens last week as two former finance ministers were pressed to explain why the government appeared to have taken no action on the list. The subject has touched a nerve among average Greeks at a time when the Parliament is expected to vote on a new 13.5 billion euro austerity package that could further reduce their standards of living.The publication of the list is likely to exacerbate Greeks’ anger that their political leaders might have been reluctant to investigate the business elite, with whom they often have close ties, even as middle- and lower-class Greeks have struggled with higher taxes and increasingly ardent tax collectors.