Greek Journalist Acquitted

Costas Vaxevanis, who was persecuted prosecuted for publishing a list of Greeks with large Swiss bank accounts, has been acquitted:

A Greek journalist who published the names of more than 2,000 of his compatriots who held Swiss bank accounts was acquitted on Thursday in a case that touched a nerve over the role of tax evasion in the country's debt crisis.

The trial of Costas Vaxevanis, editor of the weekly Hot Doc magazine, had aroused international concern and intense interest among Greeks hit by the impact of the country's economic collapse and angry at the privileges of the elite.

He could have faced up to two year years in prison on charges of violating data privacy laws that Vaxevanis said were politically motivated and the result of politicians protecting an "untouchable" wealthy class.

His speedy arrest and trial following publication of the "Lagarde List" at the weekend - so named for Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund - touched a nerve in near-bankrupt Greece, where rampant tax evasion is undermining a struggle to cut public costs and raise revenue under an EU/IMF bailout deal.

It also enraged many who are already furious over the failure of consecutive governments to crack down on the rich while years of recession have wiped out a fifth of economic output and hammered middle-class living standards.

As the old saying goes, "A fish rots from the head."

Former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson notes, in situations like this, the first priority really has to be breaking the grip of the corrupt elites has over society and over the economy.

That is not going to happen, because the Greek leadership is incapable of doing this, and the corrupt elites in the rest of the EU do not want someone telling regulators where the bodied are buried.