Hunting tax-haven cheats
Prosecutors in Germany, Britain and the United States have already pressed charges against people named in the confidential bank data on the clients of Liechtenstein’s offshore tax haven. The German authorities went as far as to pay an informant to get hold of secret details on German citizens with accounts in the well-known tax haven. The list in question contains the names of some 15,000 tax evaders and should naturally also feature a number of Greek nationals. True to form, Greece’s authorities have dragged their feet over the case. That hardly comes as a surprise to observers, given that Greek officials tend to settle the obligations of high-profile individuals on more favorable terms. Responsible government officials must go after the tax dodgers involved in the controversial Liechtenstein accounts and must not hesitate to impose hefty penalties on the wrongdoers. Otherwise, ordinary citizens will have every right to be angry and skeptical when faced with tax inspectors in the future.
