Gov't to Examine ICIJ Report Which Finally Exposes The World Of Offshore Companies

Is the Greek government going to finally crack down on the tax-evading elite, or is this just more dust in our eyes? No one knows, but the finance ministry said on Thursday that it is carefully going to examine the evidence unearthed by an investigation of offshore firms conducted by the International Consortium Of Investigative Journalists and take all appropriate action.

The announcement was made by finance ministry general secretary for revenues Haris Theoharis, but like we said earlier we hope its not another Lagarde List fiasco.

The ICIJ's global report "Secrecy For Sale: Inside The Global Offshore Money Maze" - drawing on 2.5 million secret files and described as perhaps "the largest cross border journalism collaboration in history," - was published in the Greek newspaper "Ta Nea" on Thursday.

It apparently gives an indepth look into the hidden world of tax havens, exposing the secrets of well over 120,000 offshore companies and trusts and a whopping 130,000 individuals in more than 170 countries. According to the report, most of the offshore companies of Greek interest included in these secret files are based in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.

In fact the report revealed about 107 offshore firms owned by Greek interests. Only four of these firms were listed in the country's tax registers - as required in the case of companies economically active or having property assets in Greece. The Greek state possesses no information whatever for the remaining 103 companies.

Interestingly the report also reveals that two of the Greek-owned offshore companies were used for the purchase and renovation of the cruise ship "Christina O", the same ship that was once owned by shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Other accounts apparently are linked to defence contracts by the Greek state and others are linked to individuals involved in the trading of bonds.

The Greek owners of these offshore firms are spread across Greece and include company executives, ship owners and believe it or not even ordinary middle-class families.

The tax haven of choice seems to be the British Virgin Islands which is home to roughly 500,000 active offshore companies, representing approximately 40 percent of the world total. Their activity and rapid proliferation is linked with their owners' efforts to retain their anonymity and this, in turn, is often linked to tax evasion and other forms of financial crime.