As such George Papandreou is now officialy and formally summoned to appear before the Greek parliamentary committee by next Tuesday, and answer to all the questions that the members of the parliamentary committee will make to him, and if he does not appear then his absence will gain legal dimensions.
In his written deposition, which was submitted to the parliamentary committee investigating the handling of the so-called Lagarde list, former Prime Minister George Papandreou said that while in government he had ordered his associates to crack down on tax evasion. Papandreou apparently said that he was briefed by former Finance Minister George Papakonstantinou about the list in mid-2010 and ordered that all necessary action be taken to obtain it. But when the list finally did arrive in Greece he was never informed or asked to be informed about its contents, or at least this is what was stated in his deposition, according to press reports.
The vagueness obviously prompted the Golden Dawn party who is sitting on the committee to reject the deposition and call for Papandreou to appear in person.
Kasidiaris described the deposition as a "scrap of paper" and said that he "refused to receive it." He even underlined that if Papandreou does not appear in person to testify then he should be subpoenaed.
Things must be very serious, because SYRIZA MP Zoe Konstantopoulou even submitted a request to the President of Parliament (or to Evangelos Meimarakis) asking that once Papandreou arrives, the House must refuse to grant him any more leave of absence.
Papandreou, who is presently in the US, has been commuting back and forth and has been doing so by requesting (and then receiving) a formal leave of absence from the Greek Parliament.
The request from Konstantopoulou, however, did not go up for a vote, and press reports said that SYRIZA MP Stavros Kontonis was ready to vote against it - clearly separating himself from Konstantopoulou's stance. In fact Kontonis more or less accused Zoe Kostantopoulou of not following the party line!
(Meaning: That the SYRIZA party has been flirting with the Papandreou block of PASOK, and that her position and actions at the parliamentary committee is going to sour former supporters of the socialist party which SYRIZA hopes to gain.)
When Konstantopoulou made the request, Kontonis jumped up from his seat and emphasized that this was not the line that SYRIZA was following, and that the party does not give a hoot whether or not Papandreou is granted permission to be absent from his duties in parliament or not.
He might not care, but obviously the Greek people do!
Interestingly, this is not the first time that Kostantopoulou was attacked. On Monday three of SYRIZA's MPs who are all on the committee (or Kontonis, Dritsas and Konstantopoulou) had it out when discussing the possibility of re-calling PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos to testify once again.
The committee, which is ready to wrap up the probe, has been investigating the handling of the Lagarde list by Papandreou's former Finance Minister George Papakostantinou. Some of the testimonies heard during this formal investigation indicate that Papandreou was clearly informed about what was going on, as well as monitored its exploitation, and this is one of the reasons why his deposition was categorically rejected by all the MPs on the committee.
More specifically, the testimony given by the former Head of the Financial Crimes Unit (SDOE), Mr. Ioannis Diotis to the parliamentary preliminary committee in March raises relentless questions about the role of George Papandreou and George Papakonstantinou in the handling of the Lagarde list and the role that the National Intelligence Agency played. According to reports, Diotis filed the electronic correspondence he had with Papakonstantinou few days before proceeding to copy the scandalous USB. Out of the messages exchanged between both men it looks like Papandreou and the former head of National Intelligence Kostas Bikas had full knowledge of the list and closely monitored its "exploitation".
(Just goes to show you that SYRIZA has another agenda, and this is to protect PASOK. Zoe Konstantopoulou is doing what she thinks is right and although she has been attacked for having the b**lls to ask some pretty tough questions, she has shown that she sticks to her guns when she believes that something is not right. We don't quite fancy her, but after her actions today we are coming to the conclusion that she must be a fair, and open-minded lawyer who does not have that classic Leftist, anarchist attitude that most progressives do. Also, she was the only MP -from well over a dozen- who literally supported Elias Kassidiaris several days ago when Evangelos the Large was called to testify. If some recall, Venizelos staged a verbal brawl with the young Golden Dawn MP in an effort to avoid being questioned about the Lagarde List - yes it was that obvious! Konstantopoulou stepped to the forefront and showed character by admitting to the cameras, that Venizelos was indeed purposely provoking Kassidiaris so that he can have a reason to turn the session into a three-ring circus with the aim of not giving his testimony.)
References
- http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/04/papandreou-sends-deposition-golden-dawn.html
- http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/04/papandreou-sends-deposition-golden-dawn.html
- http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/04/the-prince-lagarde-list-testosterone.html
- http://www.iefimerida.gr/news/99549/%CE%BA%CE%BF%CE%BD%CF%8
- http://www.defencenet.gr/defence/item/%CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%AE%CF%
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