評論
打印
Greek taxation
希臘稅收
Doubts over competence
全面質疑
Not a single prominent tax evader has yet been convicted
至今為止，希臘還未對任何有明顯偷稅嫌疑者進行懲罰
Greece’S elite used to see stashing funds in Swiss bank accounts as an insurance policy. Until the country joined the euro zone, fears of a sudden devaluation or a freeze on capital movements loomed large. Then came a rush to transfer money made in the black economy to financial havens abroad.
希臘的精英分子們過去總是認為將錢存在瑞士銀行是項保險政策。但是自從該國加入歐元區后，在資本的流動中，銀行存款可能突然發生貶值或凍結，精英們對此愈加擔心。他們爭相通過黑市把資金轉移至海外的金融避風港。
After many years of turning a blind eye to this illegal practice, a desperately broke Greek government is at last cracking down. The tax declarations of almost 2,000 Greeks with accounts at the Geneva branch of HSBC, a bank, are being scrutinised by officials at SDOE, the financial police. Their names were on a computer disk sent in 2010 by Christine Lagarde, then French finance minister, to her Greek counterpart, George Papaconstantinou.
在多年對這些違法行為睜一只眼閉一只眼后，瀕臨破產的希臘政府做出嚴厲打擊此類行為的動作。希臘獨立稅務調查組（SDOE），對近2000名在匯豐銀行（HSBC）日內瓦分行有業務的希臘納稅人的資產進行了清查。而這批名單是在2010年的時候，從時任法國財政部長克里斯蒂娜·拉加德（Christine Lagarde）的電腦磁盤里傳給時任希臘財政部長喬治·帕帕康斯坦丁 (George Papaconstantinou)的。
The “Lagarde list” went missing in mid-2011 but turned up again recently when Evangelos Venizelos, Mr Papaconstantinou’s successor as finance minister, sent a copy to the office of Antonis Samaras, who is now prime minister. Hot Doc, a Greek investigative magazine, then got hold of another copy and published all 2,000 names.
這份“拉加德 名單”在2011年年中時，曾經失蹤過。但是帕帕康斯坦丁財長的繼任者維尼澤洛斯（Evangelos Venizelos）將此名單的復印件送至現任希臘總理薩馬拉斯（Antonis Samaras）處。此后，希臘調查類雜志《熱門檔案》（Hot Doc）也獲得一份名單，并公布了這近2000個姓名。
Several politicians and their wives and many members of prominent business families appear on the list. Yet most attention has focused on Maria Panteli, an office manager whose account contained 550 million euro ($719m), about one-third of the total in all the accounts. Ms Panteli was suspected at first of acting as a front for a Greek shipowner. Then Nikos Lekkas, deputy chief of SDOE, claimed in testimony to a prosecutor that her account was controlled by the 89-year-old mother of a former prime minister, George Papandreou.
一些政客和他們的妻子以及許多赫赫有名的企業家族成員出現在這份名單上。然而現在大多數的目光都集中在一個叫做Maria Panteli的辦公室經理的身上，她的賬戶資本約有5.5億歐元（約為7.19億美元），約占總賬戶金額的三分之一。Panteli 起初被懷疑是希臘某船主的替罪羊。其后，SDOE的負責人Nikos Lekkas在向檢察院提交證物時表示，Panteli的賬戶由希臘前總理帕潘德里歐（George Papandreou）89歲的母親所操控。
Margaret Papandreou, who lives modestly near Corinth, a provincial town, and her son, now a backbench MP, swiftly denied the allegations. Mrs Papandreou, a feisty feminist, threatened to sue newspapers that published Mr Lekkas’s claim.
這名叫瑪格麗特·帕潘德里歐的母親現在希臘地方小鎮科林斯（Corinth）過著低調的日子。她與現任后座議員的帕潘德里歐立即對此指控矢口否認。帕潘德里歐女士，一位有著強烈爭強好勝欲望的女權主義者，揚言要對Lekkas發表在報紙上的言論進行起訴。
The Papandreous felt vindicated when Sabby Mioni, a Greek-Israeli financier, came up with an explanation. Mr Mioni said he had never met any Papandreou family member. The account in question belonged to an investment fund listed on the Irish stock exchange, he said, and he used to manage the fund on behalf of EFG International, a Greek financial group based in Switzerland. According to one of Mr Mioni’s former colleagues, Ms Panteli was a trusted employee permitted to sign documents on Mr Mioni’s behalf.
希臘籍以色列金融家Sabby Mioni提出一個解釋后，帕潘德里歐母子倆頓時被洗清嫌疑。Mioni先生稱，他從未見過任何帕潘德里歐家庭成員。同時，他還表示，該爭議賬戶屬于愛爾蘭證交所中的某投資基金，他常代表總部設在瑞士的希臘金融機構EFG銀行管理這份基金。根據Mioni的前同事的表述，Panteli是一個值得信賴的雇員并被允許允許簽署代表Mioni利益的文件。
A day later Mr Lekkas made a U-turn, claiming that he had never linked the Papandreous with Ms Panteli’s account. The embarrassing incident has raised fresh doubts about the financial police’s professional competence. Critics say there has been foot-dragging over investigations of politicians, footballers, prominent lawyers and doctors suspected of tax evasion. SDOE officials complain they are overloaded with new cases.
一天后，Lekkas的態度發生了180度的大轉彎，他聲稱，從未曾涉及過任何有關帕潘德里歐與Panteli的帳戶調查。而這個令人尷尬的事件令人們對獨立稅務調查組的專業能力提出了質疑。批評者說，他們在足球運動員，著名的律師和醫生涉嫌逃稅的相關政治調查中消極怠工。SDOE官員們則抱怨，在這一系列新的案例中，他們是在超負荷地工作。
Greece has still not convicted any prominent tax evaders, despite promising international creditors that the worst offenders would go to jail. The government is about to name a special secretary for tax affairs, in line with a request from officials from the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank who are supervising economic reforms. The new tax supremo will have his work cut out.
盡 管希臘曾向國際債權人承諾，將會懲罰那些情節嚴重者甚至將其送至監獄，但該國依然沒有給任何一個逃稅大戶定罪。根據監督希臘經濟改革的機構，即歐盟委員會（European Commission）、國際貨幣基金組織（IMF）和歐洲中央銀行（European Central Bank）官員的要求，希臘政府正籌劃任命負責稅收事務的特別官員。新任稅務長官的工作將與其他政府工作分而治之。翻譯：周穎
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