Three Greek former parliamentarians have apparently been charged with alleged breaches of wealth declaration laws. The charges against Yiannos Papantoniou, a former PASOK defense and finance minister (under the Simitis government), George Voulgarakis, a former public order and culture minister (under the Karamanlis government), and former deputy finance and foreign minister Petros Doukas (under the Karamanlis government).
The charges come amid a crackdown on former public officials by judicial authorities and just several days after PASOK ex-defense minister Akis Tsochadzopoulos was jailed for eight years over inaccurate income declarations (in a first trial of many more to come). In the highest-profile conviction of a politician in decades, the court sentenced Tsohatzopoulos for false income statements in 2006-2009 and for failing to declare a neo-classical mansion that was purchased in 2009.
Papantoniou faces misdemeanor charges for failing to disclose in 2008 that his wife had 2.2 million Euros in deposits in a Swiss HSBC account, while Voulgarakis, was also accused of hiding from the state that his wife had deposits of 117,000 Euros in a foreign bank account in 2007. Doukas, on the other hand, was also charged with felony after the prosecutor refused to accept his explanation over the disappearance of 1 million Euros from his bank account in 2010.
All three have denied any wrongdoing. Doukas said that the money was transferred to an investment account, which was declared in his income statement, while Papantoniou and Voulgarakis both denied the charges, which stem from a probe into the so-called "Lagarde list" of potential tax evaders.
Greek politicians are required under law to declare the origin of their wealth (or their pothen esches) after parliament toughened legislation in 2010 soon after its debt crisis erupted.
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