ATHENS (Reuters) - Swiss banks slapped down a request by Greek lawmakers seeking written proof that they had not stashed away money in secret accounts with them, parliamentary documents showed on Friday.
More than three hundred Greek members of parliament and their spouses had asked the Swiss Bankers' Association in April to provide them with a statement confirming that they had no bank account in the Alpine republic.
The request to clear their names was made in response to statements by a Swiss politician that several Greek politicians had funnelled money to Switzerland, a Greek official said.
The statements added fuel to popular frustration with Greek politicians, who many Greeks accuse of imposing harsh austerity measures on honest taxpayers while stashing away ill-gotten wealth in tax havens such as Switzerland.
But the Swiss Banking Association (SBA) turned down the request, saying it could not forward requests of "such general content" to all its members.
"Swiss banks are not obligated to issue confirmations that a certain person does not hold an account with them," it said in a letter to Greek parliament distributed to reporters.
"In fact, some banks have policies in place, not to issue such a negative confirmation."
More than 90 billion euros (72.8 billion pounds) have left Greek banks since the start of the country's debt crisis in late 2009, about a third of the total.
Wealthy Greeks are believed to have stashed some of that in Swiss banks without declaring them to Greek tax authorities. Athens is currently in talks with Bern to tax that money along the lines of a similar Swiss-German deal.
(Reporting by Harry Papachristou; editing by Ron Askew)