Savings flight to be probed
A top Supreme Court official on Monday ordered a probe into press reports that 731 Greeks moved 1 billion euros to foreign banks in 2010, as the Finance Ministry said it had prodded Switzerland to resume efforts to draw up a bilateral treaty aimed at taxing Greek deposits in Swiss banks
Nikos Tsangas, vice president of the Supreme Court, said he asked Athens prosecutor Yiannis Sakellakos to determine whether criminal charges should be brought against anyone on the list made public by Ta Nea for withholding information about assets.
The Greeks in question reportedly removed a total of 1 billion euros from the country in 2010 but only declared 2.5 million euros to tax authorities. The report said the central bank had information on 403 Greeks who moved at least 100,000 euros each.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry said it had asked Swiss authorities to resume efforts, launched last fall, to forge a bilateral pact that would allow deposits of wealthy Greeks in Swiss banks to be taxed.
