Greek Journalist Faces Retrial Over Bank List

A journalist cleared of breaching data privacy laws after publishing the names of more than 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts will stand trial again, court officials have said.

Magazine editor Costas Vaxevanis was arrested and acquitted after printing the so-called 'Lagarde List' of possible tax evaders.

The 46-year-old insisted the list - which included prominent businessmen and politicians - was the same as the one handed to Greek authorities two years ago by France's then finance minister Christine Lagarde.

The list was initially leaked by an HSBC bank employee in Switzerland where the accounts - estimated at 1.5bn euro (£1.2bn) - were held.

Mr Vaxevanis was acquitted on November 1 but Athens' public prosecutor's office has ruled the decision was faulty and that he must be tried on the same charges again at a higher court.

Mr Vaxevanis following his arrest in October

If he is found guilty the celebrated investigative journalist could be jailed for up to two years or given a large fine.

"The prosecutor believes that the decision in favour of the journalist is legally wrong," a court official said, without giving further details.

A similar request for appeal was filed by three people whose names are on the list, he said.

The list and the saga of how it was passed from one senior official to the next and misplaced at one point without anyone apparently taking action has captured the attention of the Greeks.

In his defence, Mr Vaxevanis accused politicians of hiding the truth and protecting an "untouchable" elite. He said the first trial was politically-motivated, calling it "targeted and vengeful".

Greece has so far failed to convict any big names of tax evasion, fuelling popular disenchantment with a political class that promised to force the wealthy to share some of the pain of the debt crisis.

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