两千名持有瑞士账户希腊人名单曝光

The investigative journalist on trial after embarrassing Greece’s political and business elite by publishing the names of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts yesterday stuck to his guns, saying his list showed “how sick the system is.

一名调查记者昨天为自己曝光两千多名拥有瑞士银行帐户的希腊人做了辩护，称他的名单揭露了“整个体系的病态。这次曝光让希腊多名政界和商界精英人士陷入难堪，这名记者正因此面临法庭审判。

Speaking from his office in a rundown shopping mall in Athens, Costas Vaxevanis said the list of accounts held by Greeks at branch of HSBCin Geneva encapsulated a deeply corrupt political culture in Greece. “It is a closed system, with politicians, businessmen and their hangers on controlling what happens, he told the Financial Times as a power outage briefly plunged his office into darkness.

在位于雅典一座破旧购物中心的办公室里，记者科斯塔斯·瓦克斯瓦尼斯(Costas Vaxevanis)说，他曝光的是一份在汇丰(HSBC)日内瓦分行拥有账户的希腊人名单，这份名单让人看到了希腊严重腐败的政治文化。他对英国《金融时报》说：“这是一个封闭的体系，政治家、商人、以及他们的附庸者在控制着一切。采访期间，电力故障一度让瓦克斯瓦尼斯的办公室陷入漆黑之中。

“We acted in the public interest?.?.?.?We know the list is accurate. It refers both to legitimate accounts held by business people and individuals and to others that we believe were used for channelling funds for purposes of tax evasion.

“我们这样做是为了公众利益……我们知道这份名单是准确的。名单上既有一些属于商人和个人的合法账户，也有一些账户我们认为被用于分流资金，目的是逃税。

He was speaking after a court postponed until Thursday his trial for allegedly violating the country’s data protection laws. Scores of friends and colleagues gathered outside the court to support the editor of the biweekly Hot Doc magazine. If convicted, he faces up to five years’ imprisonment.

瓦克斯瓦尼斯在接受这次采访之前，希腊一家法院决定将对他的庭审推迟到周四之后。瓦克斯瓦尼斯被控涉嫌违反了希腊数据隐私法。在法院做出这一决定之时，这位双周刊《热文》(Hot Doc)杂志主编的几十位朋友和同事聚集在法院外面，表示对他的支持。如果罪名成立，他可能面临最高五年的监禁。

“We will argue there was no violation of privacy under Greek law as we didn’t publish the amounts held in each account, only the names and professions of the account holders, he said.

瓦克斯瓦尼斯说：“我们会申辩说，这并没有违反希腊隐私法，因为我们并没有公布每个账户中的具体金额，只是账户持有人的姓名和职业。

Shipowners, industrialists, artists and a handful of politicians and their relatives are on the list published last week by Hot Doc. Sales of last week’s issue quadrupled to 100,000.

《热文》上周公布的名单中，有船主、实业家、艺术家，也有一小部分政界人士及其亲属。上周那期《热文》的销量为平时的四倍，达到10万份。

Mr Vaxevanis said more than €13bn had moved through the accounts on the list between 1998 and 2007. “Our view is that some account holders moved large amounts of black money through their HSBC account in Geneva to invest in foreign funds or deposit in safe havens elsewhere. The conservative-led coalition government has not commented on the case.

瓦克斯瓦尼斯说，1998年到2007年期间，名单上账户累计转移资金金额超过130亿欧元。他说：“我们认为，一些账户持有人通过他们在汇丰日内瓦支行的账户转移了大量黑钱，投资于外国基金或者是存放于其他的安全港。保守派领导的联合政府还未对此事置评。

Christine Lagarde, then French finance minister, gave the list to her Greek counterpart in 2010 for investigation of possible tax evasion. Unofficial versions circulated for more than two years. Politicians, media barons and some journalists exploited the list “for blackmail and extortion because the government held off from a proper investigation, Mr Vaxevanis said.

2010年，时任法国财长的克里斯蒂娜·拉加德(Christine Lagarde)将这份名单交给了当时的希腊财长，用于调查可能的逃税行为。民间关于这份名单的各种版本已经流传两年多。瓦克斯瓦尼斯说，政界人士、媒体大亨、以及一些记者都在利用这份名单“来敲诈勒索，因为政府迟迟没有展开适当的调查。

Several political figures whose names were on the list have issued formal denials.

名单上的一些政界人士已正式否认在汇丰日内瓦分行拥有账户。