Greece requested a list of Greek depositors at a Jersey island bank from Britain as part of efforts to address tax evasion, the Greek Finance Ministry said on Thursday.

In a letter sent to his British counterpart George Osborne, Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras requests data on the financial transactions of Greek nationals at an HSBC bank branch on Jersey island.

According to reports in British media, about 100 Greeks have 22.3 million euro deposits at the Channel island tax haven. Their names are said to be included in a list of approximately 8,500 owners of bank accounts which leaked to the press.

Similar leaks of lists of major depositors in foreign banks have caused uproar in Greece over the past month, as the country struggles to counter an acute debt crisis.

Greek financial prosecutors await within days the original list of data on some 2,000 Greeks with accounts in a Geneva branch of HSBC to investigate allegations of tax dodging. The authenticity of a list printed by Greek media a few weeks ago has not been verified.

Widespread tax evasion is regarded as a key factor of the crisis and authorities have stepped up efforts to tackle the problem in coordination with international creditors who keep Greece afloat with bailout aid in return of austerity and structural reform measures.

On Friday, the Finance Ministry is expected to send letters to 15,000 Greeks who were found to have not declared their depositions in foreign banks, as obliged. The government expects to raise more than 2 billion euros from relevant fines and taxes in this case. (1 euro=1.27 US dollars)