HispanicBusiness

A journalist arrested in Greece for publishing the names of more than 2,000 Greeks with large Swiss bank accounts will appear in court on Monday on charges of violating privacy laws.

Costas Vaxevanis was arrested on Sunday after publishing the infamous "Lagarde List," named after International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, in his magazine Hot Doc in its Saturday edition.

In her role as France's finance minister before joining the IMF, Lagarde in 2010 reportedly gave her Greek counterpart a CD with the names of Greek citizens with large deposits in an HSBC branch in Geneva.

Last week two former finance ministers were pressed to explain to a parliamentary committee why the government appeared to have taken no action to investigate whether those individuals were tax evaders.

Vaxevanis says his arrest is unfair.

In an act of support, the top selling Ta Nea newspaper also published the "Lagarde List" on Monday.

The list does not indicate the exact amount that each of the 2,059 individuals have in Switzerland. It reveals the identity of each deposit and the individual's profession. The newspaper article said some accounts contained as much as 500-million-euros (645 million dollars).

The list includes the names of politicians and business people as well as students, housewives, actors, lawyers, architects, diplomats and shipping magnates.

The revelation comes as the Greek parliament is expected to vote on a new 13.5 million euro austerity package that will further reduce

standards of living among the middle and lower class, which are struggling with higher taxes and lower salaries.