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The Greek government is about to trap the Greeks having deposits in Swiss banks as their declared incomes do not justify them. Athens and Bern are very close to signing a bilateral agreement to cancel bank secrecy after the meeting of the representatives of both countries a few days ago.

The main terms of the agreement will be announced at the end of the year. Thus, the Greek authorities for the first time will have access to the deposits of Greek nationals in Swiss banks, which according to some commentators reach € 200 billion and for the most part, are "black money".

Germany and Britain have been the first two countries that reached a bilateral agreement with Switzerland in order to obtain information on bank deposits of their citizens. The negotiations between their governments and that in Bern have begun in the spring of 2010 and concluded with the signing of agreements in September this year.

The Greek citizens keeping their money in Swiss banks will be able to choose between two options: to disclose their data to the Greek authorities or to pay a tax imposed on the total amount of deposited or invested capital. The specific tax will be equal to the amount they would have paid if the amount deposited were declared as income to the Greek tax authorities.

According to sources from the Ministry of Finance, the tax on the entire deposit amount is calculated based on a formula that includes the bank account movements over the past decade, the movement of the account after the announcement of the bilateral agreement and others.

The agreement will mention the conditions for future deposits and the manner in which the Swiss authorities will provide information to the Greek ones when it comes to illegal capital. In all cases, this process is not related to criminal persecution of perpetrators of crimes nor does it cancel contracts, which provide for avoidance of double taxation.

"In this way, Greece will be able to accumulate a substantial amount of unpaid taxes for a period of many years. Tax authorities will obtain data that will allow them to reveal scandalous cases of tax evasion," said the Minister of Finance Evangelos Venizelos.

According to some sources, the tax that will be imposed will vary between 25 and 35% and the owners of the hidden capital, in return, will be allowed to preserve their anonymity. In case they are not satisfied with this agreement they will be required to explain how they acquired those funds, and some of them will face legal persecution for "dirty" money laundering and imposition of tax in the amount of 40%.

At the same time, the Ministry of Finance is preparing to inspect 1700 individuals who are the largest owners of real estate in Greece. Tax authorities think they have invested most of the undeclared income in properties.