By Nektaria Stamouli
ATHENS--Greece Thursday requested information from British
authorities seeking information about Greek citizens with offshore
bank accounts, as part of its efforts to crack down on tax
evasions.
Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras sent a letter to his
British counterpart George Osborne asking "information about Greeks
with economic activity located in Greece, who maintain bank
accounts in Jersey island branch of HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC)," the
finance ministry said in a statement.
The move follows a report from the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph last
week about 8,474 offshore accounts in the branch, which included
criminals living in the U.K.
According to various reports, the list also includes 97 people
with an address in Greece, who appear to have deposits totaling
22.3 million euros ($28.4 million) in the bank.
There has been no indication as to whether the U.K. intends to
pass on the details of the list to other countries, but this may be
academic as Jersey is a self-governing Crown dependency and the
Chancellor may not have the authority to obtain the
information.
The U.K.'s tax authorities have launched an investigation into
HSBC, after a whistleblower handed them details of every British
client holding an account with the bank in the low-tax Channel
Island, according to the Daily Telegraph.
This month, the Swiss government said it has begun formal talks
on a deal to tax assets stashed in secret Swiss bank accounts by
Greek citizens, in line with similar agreements struck with other
European countries.
A tax deal with Switzerland could help Greece crack down on tax
evasion, which is estimated to cost the cash-strapped country as
much as EUR28 billion a year, according to a study by the
University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.
Despite years of belt-tightening and budget austerity, Greece's
efforts to crack down on tax evasion have been poor. Its moves to
crack down on tax evasion by small-time entrepreneurs and the
self-employed have been publicly scorned amid the widespread
perception that those with wealth and political connections aren't
sharing the pain.
Write to Nektaria Stamouli at nektaria.stamouli@dowjones.com