Financial Prosecutors Probe Link Between Lagarde list & Capital Repatriation Amnesty Laws

Greece's financial prosecutors (or as we wittingly call them the "dynamic duo") have apparently asked banks for lists of individuals that repatriated sizeable amounts of capital between the periods of September 2010 and September 2011, availing themselves of a "tax amnesty" then in force. The request, said one report from the state news agency, is made in the framework of the ongoing 'Lagarde list' investigation, with the prosecutors seeking to determine whether a link can be established between the list of individuals with deposits in the Swiss branch of HSBC - known as the Lagarde list - and the decision made by then finance minister George Papakonstantinou to extend favourable regulations for repatriating funds.

(It should be reminded that Papakonstantinou is being probed by a preliminary Parliamentary investigation into the handling of the Lagarde list and the failure by Greek authorities to promptly follow up on the evidence this contained.)

The decision extended a law by a previous finance minister, George Alogoskoufis, which gave those repatriating funds immunity from prosecution and required them to pay only a fixed amount of tax.

A family member of Papakonstantinou included in the Lagarde list cited this legislation in testimony to the two financial prosecutors.

A closer examination of the issue was deemed necessary when it became apparent that Papakonstantinou had extended the favourable regime of the Alogoskoufis law just a few days after he first received the Lagarde list from French authorities at the end of September 2010.

The first extension by Papakonstantinou was from October 2010 until December 31, 2010. This was followed by a second extension from March 31, 2011 until September 30, 2011.

Banks are expected to send their replies to the financial prosecutors by mid May, while the two prosecutors have also sought the assistance of the general secretariat for information systems.