Greek magazine editor was arrested after publishing names of Greeks said to hold HSBC accounts in Switzerland
‘The investigative journalist facing trial after embarrassing Greece’s political and business elite by publishing the names of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts on Monday stuck to his guns saying his list showed “how sick the system is”.
‘Speaking from his office in a run-down shopping mall in central Athens, Costas Vaxevanis claimed the list of accounts held by Greeks at an HSBC branch in Geneva encapsulated Greece’s deeply corrupt political culture. “It is a closed system with politicians, businessmen and their hangers-on controlling what happens,” he told the Financial Times as the lights flickered on and off. “We acted in the public interest … We know the list is accurate. It refers both to legitimate accounts held by businesspeople and individuals and to others that we believe were used for channeling funds for purposes of tax evasion.”
‘An Athens court postponed until Thursday Mr Vaxevanis’s trial for allegedly violating the country’s data protection laws.’
Greek magazine editor was arrested after publishing names of Greeks said to hold HSBC accounts in Switzerland
‘The investigative journalist facing trial after embarrassing Greece’s political and business elite by publishing the names of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts on Monday stuck to his guns saying his list showed “how sick the system is”.
‘Speaking from his office in a run-down shopping mall in central Athens, Costas Vaxevanis claimed the list of accounts held by Greeks at an HSBC branch in Geneva encapsulated Greece’s deeply corrupt political culture. “It is a closed system with politicians, businessmen and their hangers-on controlling what happens,” he told the Financial Times as the lights flickered on and off. “We acted in the public interest … We know the list is accurate. It refers both to legitimate accounts held by businesspeople and individuals and to others that we believe were used for channeling funds for purposes of tax evasion.”
‘An Athens court postponed until Thursday Mr Vaxevanis’s trial for allegedly violating the country’s data protection laws.’
