经济学人:拉加德名单问世 瑞士不再是贪官的金融避风港

 　　Greek taxation¹

　　希腊税收

　　Doubts over competence²

　　全面质疑

　　Not a single prominent tax evader³ has yet been convicted

　　至今为止，希腊还未对任何有明显偷税嫌疑者进行惩罚

　　Greece’S elite⁴ used to see stashing⁵ 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 loomed⁶ large. Then came a rush to transfer money made in the black economy to financial havens⁷ abroad.

　　希腊的精英分子们过去总是认为将钱存在瑞士银行是项保险政策。但是自从该国加入欧元区后，在资本的流动中，银行存款可能突然发生贬值或冻结，精英们对此愈加担心。他们争相通过黑市把资金转移至海外的金融避风港。

　　After many years of turning a blind eye to this illegal practice, a desperately⁸ 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.

　　在多年对这些违法行为睁一只眼闭一只眼后，濒临破产的希腊政府做出严厉打击此类行为的动作。希腊独立税务调查组（SDOE），对近2000名在汇丰银行（HSBC）日内瓦分行有业务的希腊纳税人的资产进行了清查。而这批名单是在2010年的时候，从时任法国财政部长克里斯蒂娜·拉加德（Christine Lagarde）的电脑磁盘里传给时任希腊财政部长乔治·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.

　　这份“拉加德 名单”在2011年年中时，曾经失踪过。但是帕帕康斯坦丁财长的继任者维尼泽洛斯（Evangelos Venizelos）将此名单的复印件送至现任希腊总理萨马拉斯（Antonis Samaras）处。此后，希腊调查类杂志《热门档案》（Hot Doc）也获得一份名单，并公布了这近2000个姓名。

　　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 acting⁹ as a front for a Greek shipowner. Then Nikos Lekkas, deputy chief of SDOE, claimed in testimony¹⁰ to a prosecutor¹¹ that her account was controlled by the 89-year-old mother of a former prime minister, George Papandreou.

　　一些政客和他们的妻子以及许多赫赫有名的企业家族成员出现在这份名单上。然而现在大多数的目光都集中在一个叫做Maria Panteli的办公室经理的身上，她的账户资本约有5.5亿欧元（约为7.19亿美元），约占总账户金额的三分之一。Panteli 起初被怀疑是希腊某船主的替罪羊。其后，SDOE的负责人Nikos Lekkas在向检察院提交证物时表示，Panteli的账户由希腊前总理帕潘德里欧（George Papandreou）89岁的母亲所操控。

　　Margaret Papandreou, who lives modestly near Corinth, a provincial¹² town, and her son, now a backbench MP, swiftly denied the allegations. Mrs Papandreou, a feisty feminist¹³, threatened to sue newspapers that published Mr Lekkas’s claim.

　　这名叫玛格丽特·帕潘德里欧的母亲现在希腊地方小镇科林斯（Corinth）过着低调的日子。她与现任后座议员的帕潘德里欧立即对此指控矢口否认。帕潘德里欧女士，一位有着强烈争强好胜欲望的女权主义者，扬言要对Lekkas发表在报纸上的言论进行起诉。

　　The Papandreous felt vindicated¹⁴ 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.

　　希腊籍以色列金融家Sabby Mioni提出一个解释后，帕潘德里欧母子俩顿时被洗清嫌疑。Mioni先生称，他从未见过任何帕潘德里欧家庭成员。同时，他还表示，该争议账户属于爱尔兰证交所中的某投资基金，他常代表总部设在瑞士的希腊金融机构EFG银行管理这份基金。根据Mioni的前同事的表述，Panteli是一个值得信赖的雇员并被允许允许签署代表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 investigations¹⁵ of politicians, footballers, prominent lawyers and doctors suspected of tax evasion¹⁶. SDOE officials complain they are overloaded¹⁷ with new cases.

　　一天后，Lekkas的态度发生了180度的大转弯，他声称，从未曾涉及过任何有关帕潘德里欧与Panteli的帐户调查。而这个令人尴尬的事件令人们对独立税务调查组的专业能力提出了质疑。批评者说，他们在足球运动员，著名的律师和医生涉嫌逃税的相关政治调查中消极怠工。SDOE官员们则抱怨，在这一系列新的案例中，他们是在超负荷地工作。

　　Greece has still not convicted any prominent tax evaders, despite promising¹⁸ international creditors¹⁹ that the worst offenders²⁰ 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.

　　尽 管希腊曾向国际债权人承诺，将会惩罚那些情节严重者甚至将其送至监狱，但该国依然没有给任何一个逃税大户定罪。根据监督希腊经济改革的机构，即欧盟委员会（European Commission）、国际货币基金组织（IMF）和欧洲中央银行（European Central Bank）官员的要求，希腊政府正筹划任命负责税收事务的特别官员。新任税务长官的工作将与其他政府工作分而治之。

1 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

2 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

3 evader   

逃避者，逃避物

参考例句：

• This new law amounts to a tax evader's charter. 这项新法律简直成了为逃税者开的许可证。

4 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

5 stashing   

v.贮藏( stash的现在分词 )；隐藏；藏匿；藏起

参考例句：

6 loomed   

v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• A dark shape loomed up ahead of us. 一个黑糊糊的影子隐隐出现在我们的前面。
• The prospect of war loomed large in everyone's mind. 战事将起的庞大阴影占据每个人的心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 havens   

n.港口，安全地方( haven的名词复数 )v.港口，安全地方( haven的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Your twenty havens would back out at the last minute anyhow. 你那二十个避难所到了最后一分钟也要不认帐。 来自辞典例句
• Using offshore havens to avoid taxes and investor protections. 使用海面的港口避免税和投资者保护。 来自互联网

8 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

11 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

12 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

13 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

14 vindicated   

v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护

参考例句：

• I have every confidence that this decision will be fully vindicated. 我完全相信这一决定的正确性将得到充分证明。
• Subsequent events vindicated the policy. 后来的事实证明那政策是对的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

16 evasion   

n.逃避，偷漏(税)

参考例句：

• The movie star is in prison for tax evasion.那位影星因为逃税而坐牢。
• The act was passed as a safeguard against tax evasion.这项法案旨在防止逃税行为。

17 overloaded   

a.超载的，超负荷的

参考例句：

• He's overloaded with responsibilities. 他担负的责任过多。
• She has overloaded her schedule with work, study, and family responsibilities. 她的日程表上排满了工作、学习、家务等，使自己负担过重。

18 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

19 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 offenders   

n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物）

参考例句：

• Long prison sentences can be a very effective deterrent for offenders. 判处长期徒刑可对违法者起到强有力的威慑作用。
• Purposeful work is an important part of the regime for young offenders. 使从事有意义的劳动是管理少年犯的重要方法。