The case file on the so-called 'Lagarde list' was submitted to Parliament on Monday by Supreme Court deputy prosecutor Nikos Pantelis, via Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis, for investigation of possible penal liabilities of former government members who had taken possession of and managed the list in CD format. A USB stick containing an alleged copy of the original list was also submitted with the other evidence.
In a forwarding document sent to Parliament, Pantelis did not make any reference to specific political figures as required under the Constitution but said that he was forwarding the case file for an investigation into "possible penal liability of members of the then government that received and handled the CD in question". Enclosing a report and the findings of a preliminary investigation conducted by financial prosecutors Grigoris Peponis and Spyros Mouzakitis, he asked Parliament to establish the circumstances in which the alleged CD came into the government's possession and the way its contents were subsequently used, "without going into an assessment of the contents of the case file" and requested that Parliament take action in case of penal liability by any former government members.
The "Lagarde list", sent roughly two years ago to the then Greek finance minister George Papakonstantinou by the then French finance minister Christine Lagarde, contains the names of 1,991 Greek citizens that have sizeable bank accounts at the Geneva branch of HSBC bank.
According to witness testimony, the list had ended up in the hands of French authorities about four years ago when they seized digital evidence from the house of former HSBC employee Herve Falciani.
Papakonstantinou claimed that he had the original list, sent in CD format, copied on a USB stick which he turned over to the ministry's financial crimes squad SDOE for investigation, while giving the original CD and accompanying documentation to his office for "confidential safekeeping". The former finance minister said he was unaware of the CD's current whereabouts. He also charged that no action was taken by SDOE on the list.
The two financial prosecutors had forwarded the results of their preliminary investigation to Supreme Court chief prosecutor Ioannis Tentes on November 1. He then instructed Pantelis to examine the file and decide whether it should be forwarded to Parliament.
Though the prosecutors did not name any political figures specifically, they indirectly though clearly pointed to the two former finance ministers, George Papakonstantinou and Evangelos Venizelos. The two prosecutors also note that, although the original CD was sent by the French finance ministry through official channels and with the signature of a French civil servant, there is no electronic record of its arrival at Papakonstantinou's office.
The prosecutors' investigation includes witness testimony given by Papakonstantinou and Venizelos and by two former heads of SDOE, Ioannis Diotis and Yiannis Kapeleris. (AMNA)
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