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11/3/12

Greek Editor Not Guilty in Publishing Names Greeks With Swiss Bank Accounts - by Liz Alderman

The owner and editor of a respected investigative magazine was acquitted Thursday on charges of breaching privacy laws in publishing the names of more than 2,000 Greeks believed to be holding accounts at a bank in Switzerland. The case tested news media freedom in Greece and fueled a scandal over whether officials here failed to aggressively pursue people suspected of evading taxes. 

The verdict came four days after a phalanx of police officers arrested the editor, Kostas Vaxevanis, as his magazine, Hot Doc, hit newsstands with the list. Before a packed court, Mr. Vaxevanis and his lawyers portrayed him as the target of a politically motivated campaign aimed at damping the public anger at Greek officials. 

The list that Mr. Vaxevanis obtained and published was handed to the Greek authorities two years ago by Christine Lagarde, then the French finance minister and now the head of the International Monetary Fund, to help Greece crack down on tax evasion as it was trying to mend its economy. The list held names of 2,059 Greeks who held accounts at a Geneva branch of the British bank HSBC, which includes a former culture minister, several employees of the Finance Ministry and a number of business leaders. “The court finds the defendant innocent,” Judge Malia Volika said in handing down the decision.

Read more:  Greek Editor Not Guilty in Publishing Names With Swiss Accounts - NYTimes.com

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