France originally gave the list to Athens in 2010 and specifically to former finance minister under the George Papandreou government, Mr. George Papakostantinou, but Papandreou's government did not act on it. (now why is that?) Venizelos then received the list from his predecessor when the Papandreou government held a mini re-shuffle. The two former heads of the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) who had also received the list have also been questioned by the "dynamic duo" over the failure to investigate it for possible tax evaders.
Zoom to the future, the two financial prosecutors assigned to the case are now checking the old list against the new one to see if any names were erased before it was handed over to parliament earlier this year and a formal announcement is expected by the end of this week.
Nonetheless, HellasFrappe was able to get a scoop on the story before the "formal" version hits the new stands. According to several blogs, as well as a leading Athens daily the new list is completely different form the one which was given to the state by Venizelos.
Specifically, the "TO VIMA" newspaper, said that the list which was received by Greek authorities last week differs greatly from the one that was delivered last October to the Financial Crime unit (SDOE). One report said that the new list is apparently in the form of files, which in most cases contain several names that are the beneficiaries of the list of deposits. In most cases, added the same article, all the members of a family are listed as beneficiaries of the accounts.
The newspaper also said that every file, aside from personal personal data (date of birth, address etc.) the tax profile of each of the depositors is also included.
Based on the above information alone, it is obvious that the material that was handed over to Greek authorities last week differs greatly from what was received earlier this year.
The list originates from wide-ranging data stolen by a former HSBC employee, which Paris obtained. Greeks have dubbed it the "Lagarde List" after Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund who was French finance minister when the list was originally handed over.
Greece has so far failed to convict any big names of tax evasion, while other EU countries have used the data to pursue cases of suspected tax evasion.
Certainly if any differences are found (even one), surely political and judicial responsibilities will be sought.
The main opposition SYRIZA party is also hammering down on the government about the list, and in our opinion here at HellasFrappe they are doing so for populist reasons. One of their MPs, specifically Nadia Valavani, has also referred to unconfirmed media reports that the latest version of the list has about 600 more names than the one prosecutors were given in October.
The issue of tax evasion altogether has taken on even more prominence after a report was released from the Troika report indicating that Greece was slipping far behind its targets for tackling tax dodgers. The report noted that only 567 out of a planned 1,300 checks on wealthy suspected tax evaders had been conducted by the end of September, absorbing no more than 29 million euros in revenues, and that only 1.1 billion euros of overdue taxes had been collected, rather than 2 billion expected.
The troika report says that only about 20 percent of some 53 billion euros owed by firms and individuals is realistically collectible.
This is probably one of the reasons why the government of Antonis Samaras decided to hire 100 more inspectors in the framework of checking wealthy suspected tax dodgers, with the focus being on those who owe between 300,000 and 1 million Euros. It should be mentioned that this latter group owes a total of roughly 3.1 billion euros.
3.1 billion Euros
+2 billion Euros
+ God knows what else...
= Make the additions yourselves...
It does not take a brain surgeon to see that some of our elites are avoiding to pay taxes.
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