Greece to probe ex-minister over tax scandal

Greek parliamentarians have voted to investigate former finance minister George Papaconstantinou over his handling of data on Greeks with Swiss bank accounts and whether he amended the list to remove three of his relatives.

The parliament voted early on Friday in a marathon 16-hour Parliament session by 265 votes in favour and six against.

With the three-party coalition government backing the call for an investigation, the motion had been all but assured to pass.

Two proposals by opposition parties for broader investigations failed. One had been to launch probes into the handling of the data by former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos, who currently heads one of the coalition parties, and the other expand the investigation to two former prime ministers.

French authorities gave the list of names to Athens in 2010 as Greece’s economy was imploding. But Greek authorities failed to investigate the data for potential tax evasion, sparking outrage at a time of severe salary and pension cuts, and spiraling unemployment.

Papaconstantinou insists he did not amend the list and contended during the parliamentary debate that he was the target of a vicious smear campaign.

“I did not tamper with the data. It is inconceivable that I would have acted in such a way that would so blatantly involve me,” he said.

The three relatives who were found missing from the list have since given evidence to authorities that the funds in the Swiss accounts were legal and taxed, he noted.

The list of about 2,000 Greeks with bank accounts in Switzerland is part of data on 24,000 HSBC customers allegedly stolen from the bank by an employee.

After about two years of inaction, the list emerged into the public eye again late last year when it was leaked to a magazine publisher, who printed the names.

Parliament’s investigative committee is to meet next week and will officially be given 30 days to come up with their findings. An extension to that deadline could also be granted.

The case over the data, dubbed the “Lagarde List” after the French finance minister of the time, Christine Lagarde, has riveted Greeks for weeks.