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| G. Papakonstantinou (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
There is an old saying that claims, that when people forget their history, it is bound to repeat itself. And because people have indeed forgotten about the incident at Imia and what happened before, during and after that night, (which almost resulted in a heated Greek-Turkish confrontation) we here at HellasFrappe felt the need to remind them. When the Greek intelligence agency discovered that a provocation would be staged that historical night by Turkish forces, it immediately warned the government since it was its duty and national commitment to do so. At the time the government was headed by former PASOK leader Costas Simitis, but much to the surprise of EYP -just like the Lagarde List- their warning and help was totally ignored!
Certainly the story of the Lagarde List STINKS from the bottom all the way to the top, and this is not only because there was a suspicious handing of the alleged list, but because some members of PASOK are doing everything in their power to erase make the story disappear from public scrutiny. But they will have to try a little harder, in our opinion, since it has gained too much interest from Greek people and it is not going to disappear, or blow away... We want to know everything and have every right to know as a people, how, who, which and why!
As a people we also anticipate that the protagonists of this story, or those involved in the handling of this list, will be at least charged with criminal negligence and why not a full-blown cover-up, because personally the only thing they are stirring in us is our stomachs with all their lies and deception. The first person who should get indited is former Finance Minister for the George Papandreou government, Mr. George Papakostantinou himself and then we expect that the justice system will also go after Evangelos the LARGE Venizelos who we all know is up to his head in sh***t as well.
In a statement -issued to the press- before his testimony in parliament on Wednesday the Papakostantinou said that in the early summer of 2010, he was approached by the (then) head of Greece's National Intelligence Agency who briefed him that a French source (within the highest ranks of the French secret services) knew of a list containing names of wealthy Greek depositors in Swiss banks and that French authorities were prepared to deliver this evidence to the Greek government to help them crack down on tax evaders after a consultation of ministers was held. "He asked me if we wanted it. And I answered, yes. (Later on) In my meeting with Ms. Lagarde, we decided to accept this information on the condition that it remain discreet."
In October 2010, and following the intervention of EYP, the alledged list was delivered to the Greek side through formal diplomatic channels - or via a French diplomat (in other words... it was given hand to hand to Greek officials). Every file on this alledged CD apparently contains information on each of the (almost) 2,000 individuals (and their suspicious deposits in Swiss banks) until the period 2007 at the HSBC bank in Switzerland.
So what happened after Papakostantinou received this information, which incidentally could have massed millions of euros in tax revenues for the Greek State?
Absolutely N O T H I N G, nada, ziltch, zero...
Basically the PASOK government pulled another "Imia" on the Greek people... and in our opinion purposely ignored the subject hoping that it would somehow... go away.
Seriously folks... What more can an intelligence agency do, when its own leaders "ignore", "push aside", "misplace", (or possibly even hide) such vital information that can benefit the State and then dance to the Zorba every time someone brings up the subject? Greek intelligence officials did their job, as they were obligated to do and now Papakostantinou is singing his own defence blues, and spilling out lots of rhetoric that does not coincide with other testimonies (as you will see further down), never once acknowledging the severity of what he has actually done.
For example, and while being questioned by the parliamentary committee assigned to investigate the mishandling of the Lagarde list, Papakonstantinou defended himself by more or less blaming the whole affair on the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE). He actually told the committee that he had singled out 20 names from the list that appeared suspicious due to the size of their deposits and made a request that they be investigated to then-SDOE chief Yiannis Kapeleris. The former finance minister said that he did not submit the complete list because SDOE had allegedly previously failed to follow up on an investigation of Greek depositors in Liechtenstein, but he had asked that certain names be looked into more thoroughly.
“SDOE was obligated to investigate this kind of information and by cross-checking declared incomes with assets to locate tax evasion,” Papakonstantinou told the committee.
And then he left everyone dumbfounded when he openly admitted that he did not know what happened to the original list (or the CD), noting that he had entrusted it to "aides" and that it had probably been lost. He did however, insist that he had transferred the list from the CD onto a USB stick before handing it over to SDOE for “greater security,” adding that he left the original copy at the ministry and does not know what happened to it after he was replaced by Venizelos.
This angered SYRIZA MP Mrs. Kostantopoulou who pressed him continuously about the whereabouts of the CD.
But to no avail.
“Only an idiot would tamper with such an important electronic file,” Papakonstantinou said in response to allegations that the list may have been tampered with.
Meanwhile, testifying in front of an economic crimes prosecutor, in an other area of Athens, Kapeleris and his successor Yiannis Diotis – who both served at SDOE while Venizelos was finance chief – both denied having been asked to launch an official investigation into the list, either by Papakonstantinou or Venizelos.
Conclusion - The stories do not match... Someone is lying!
And if that wasn't enough, on Thursday HellasFrappe discovered that Venizelos is planning to meet with the Deputy Director of the IMF, David Lipton, and chief executive of the International Monetary Institute (IIF), Charles Dalaras, while on his planned trip to the US this week where he is scheduled to speak at the shady Brookings Institute. One person he is probably not going to meet, (but will certainly attempt to) is Christine Lagarde. And one has to wonder... is Evangelos the Large afraid of something?
Obviously Lagarde will never meet with Venizelos or Papakostantinou because of their handling of the list, but knowing how dirty these two men play... one has to wonder what type of licking he will do in order to score such a meeting.
Stay tuned folks, the plot is thickening.
HellasFrappe
References
- http://www.protothema.gr/politics/article/?aid=232183
- http://www.defencenet.gr/defence/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60168&Itemid=139
- http://www.kourdistoportocali.com/articles/15323.htm
- now infamous list of Greek depositors at the Geneva branch of HSBC
- http://www.philenews.com/el-gr/Eidiseis-Ellada/23/120715/voles-dioti-kata-venizelou-kai-papakonstantinou-gia-ti-lista-lagkarnt
- http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=22767&subid=2&pubid=63729245
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