Press reports claim that the majority of the committee has more or less reached its verdict, and is presently preparing the necessary paper work which they will then submit to the plenary session of the parliament on July 4, where a vote will be held thereafter.
Each verdict, according to a report in ProtoThema will present a darker (and unknown) aspect to this scandalous affair but all verdicts will all conclude on one thing and that is that Papakonstantinou will be found guilty! The only thing that can possibly reverse the tide, or make his parliamentary conviction less dramatic, might be Papakonstaintou's final speech to his peers which is scheduled on the same day and which could possibly influence a few parliamentary MPs to vote in his favor.
The evidence is apparently based on the irrefutable findings of the Hellenic Police Department's Division of Criminal Investigation (DEE) ELAS (for the USB). At the same time more incriminating evidence has been gathered from various computers that were seized, documents that were sent by French authorities (and which apparently indicate that Papakonstantinou officially received the list -even for tax purposes-), and it will also rely on a report from the Financial Crimes Squad or SDOE.
As such the parliamentary committee is expected to unanimously conclude that Papakonstantinou:
- - received the official Lagarde list
- - did not hand it over to SDOE for a tax audit
- - mislead everyone by claiming that the material on the CD/USB was iligitamite because it was stolen and a product of intelligence services.
- - lost (and/or even purposely got rid of) the original CD and forged a copy of the list on a USB
- - (the forgery) removed the names of three of his relatives from the list
- - and harmed the State financially from this move.
George Papandreou's former finance minister apparently received the list in 2010 from the then French finance minister Christine Lagarde but according to what reports claim he never acted on it. It was later uncovered that the names of three of his relatives, who owed 10 million euros ($13.1 million) in taxes and dues were suddenly removed from the list. Of course Papakonstantinou denied any wrongdoing and this is why a parliamentary committee was set up in the first place.
Of course his successor, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, followed suit, and although the same information was also secretly in his possession for many months, the Greek parliament decided not to investigate his possible involvement. One reason for this is because Venizelos is in a fragile alliance with New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras, and this is probably why he was protected. This is also the main reason why many conservatives criticized the Samaras government, and to some extent still do.
Of course his successor, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, followed suit, and although the same information was also secretly in his possession for many months, the Greek parliament decided not to investigate his possible involvement. One reason for this is because Venizelos is in a fragile alliance with New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras, and this is probably why he was protected. This is also the main reason why many conservatives criticized the Samaras government, and to some extent still do.
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