The buzz in Athens on Christmas Eve is that the authentic and controversial "Lagarde list" is a bit more interesting than the one we knew of until now. According to press reports, the list that was circulating from ministry to ministry and from authority to authority over the last two years was apparently "edited" and the new list contains many names that were not known until now and were not included on the previous list of tax evaders.
Officials maintained that the original "Lagarde list" might have been tampered with, and this prompted Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras to ask France to re-send it.
A report on defencenet reveals that more than ten "controversial" and "well known" names are included in the new list which was received by the Ministry of Economy several days ago. Some are even going as far as saying that these names were purposely erased by the first person who received this list, who was none other than former minister of finance George Papakostantinou.
It should be reiterated that the list was given by Papakostantinou to Financial Crime Squad leader Mr. Kapeleris two years ago. Following this it was handed over to Mr. Diotis and then he handed it over to PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos who assumed Papakostantinou's position after a mini-reshuffle (from the George Papandreou government), but who deemed it necessary to keep the list in his office for more than 18 months without saying a word to anyone.
It should also be reminded that Venizelos had claimed that the reason he kept the list in his office was because it was illegally obtained and hence could not be used in the battle against tax evasion. But mounting anger against a new round of austerity cuts, imposed by Greece's international creditors, put pressure on the government to seek the list and that is when he miraculously handed it over to the prime minister.
The new list was given by French authorities to the Finance Ministry's Directorate of International Economic Relations, and the Greek government immediately delivered it to the Office of the Economic Prosecutors, Mr. Peponis and Mr. Moutzakidis.
The list was obtained by a three-member team that travelled to Paris several days ago for this very purpose and it was immediately and responsibly handed over to the Economic Prosecutors who are investigating the case, so that it can compare with the list that was given by Venizelos to Samaras several weeks ago.
In a separate report on SKAI channel later on in the evening said something that was even more shocking, they claimed that there are more than 600 names in the new list, that were not on the previous list that was given by Venizelos. The report on SKAI also said that if the rumors are confirmed and if all the buzz that is making waves in the press today are true, then this case is going to dominate the headlines over the next few days and those involved will surely face VERY heavy criminal charges.
The finance ministry said Friday that it had received the list, which was already leaked in 2010 by an HSBC employee and passed on to Greece by France's then finance minister Christine Lagarde, the current head of the International Monetary Fund.
In early November, veteran Greek journalist Costas Vaxevanis had published the names from the list, and he was taken to court for breach of privacy but he was quickly acquitted amid protests that the government was trying to bury the issue. A prosecutor then challenged the acquittal, and Vaxevanis is set to stand trial again.
Stay tuned, the plot is really thickening.
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