Regulating Press would bring Greek tragedy to Britain

A GREEK journalist has been hauled before a court for revealing the names of tax cheats.

Instead of being applauded for his investigative journalism Costas Vaxevanis is accused of violating privacy laws by publishing details of Greeks with money stashed in Swiss bank accounts.
Here, a Sun columnist argues why this case represents a chilling assault on Press freedom, and acts as a cautionary tale as Lord Justice Leveson considers reforms to Press regulation.
YOU might think bankrupt Athens chiefs would be glad to hear where they could find billions of euros hidden by the country’s biggest tax cheats.
By any standards, Costas Vaxevanis’ scoop revealing 2,000 secret Swiss accounts was in the Greek public interest.
It was certainly in the interest of eurozone voters who are forking out billions to fill the gaping hole left by Greek tax dodgers.
Yet far from being hailed a hero, Mr Vaxevanis risks two years’ jail for breaching Greek privacy laws — the draconian sort of laws some want in Britain.
We need only look across the Channel to see how privacy legislation has been used by the rich and powerful to gag the media.
The French Press is so cowed it actively conceals flagrant misconduct by public figures such as ex-IMF boss Dominic Strauss-Kahn.
It has done little to expose systematic corruption among French presidents.
Spain and Portugal are famously crooked. So is Mafia-tainted Italy, allowing Silvio Berlusconi to get away with shameless abuse of office. The playboy PM even gave himself immunity from prosecution as long as he was in office.
Britain is squeaky clean by comparison. Both the political class and the civil service are largely above criticism.
But as politicians on all sides admit, this is at least partly thanks to the British Press.
Ours might be a rough old trade, sometimes scurrilous and always noisy.
But without its freedom to dig dirt, embarrass the great and good and tell unpalatable truths — and, yes, occasionally get it wrong — British democracy risks grievous damage.
Under a privacy law, we would never have known about MPs’ expenses, the cheating Pakistani cricketers, the Duchess of York’s money-making scams and much more.
Only a fool would think the British media has not learned hard lessons from recent events.
It is the subject of the biggest criminal investigation ever, costing £40million, involving 178 police and 100 arrests.
Compare that with just 30 officers investigating the sex abuse of children on BBC premises.
Journalists have been emotionally scarred and their careers wrecked by terror-style dawn police raids.
Police who share some of the blame for this whirlwind of retribution are now in overdrive to restore their reputation. It is not a pretty sight.
Some journalists may go to jail. Perhaps some deserve to.
But not the overwhelming majority, whose only offence has been to chase stories for no personal gain.
When the dust settles it will be argued they were simply doing their job.
Phone hacking will never happen again. Plans for stiffer self-regulation will make editors think twice before paying sources.
But statutory legislation is the first step down the path now being trodden by Costas Vaxevanis.
The first casualty will be the right of voters to know what their masters are up to.
The second will be newspapers themselves. Where you have laws, you have lawyers.
Before we know it, there will be a PPI-style frenzy: “Have you appeared in a newspaper? You may be entitled to compensation.”
That would be the end for local newspapers who cannot afford to fight.
It would also signal the defeat in a 300-year battle for a truly free Press — and the democracy that cannot properly function without it.