(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, DECEMBER 31 - Greece's three governing
coalition parties are due to submit to Parliament on Monday a
proposal for MPs to investigate former Finance Minister Giorgos
Papaconstantinou over allegations that he tampered with the
so-called Lagarde list of Greek depositors at HSBC in
Switzerland. According to reports - as daily Kathimerini reports
-, New Democracy, PASOK and Democratic Left will suggest that
Papaconstantinou needs to face a parliamentary inquiry to answer
charges of doctoring an official document and breach of duty,
offenses which carry sentences of up to 20 years in jail. The
proposal needs just 30 MPs' signatures to be put to a vote,
where a majority decision will be enough to prompt the setting
up of an investigative committee. The panel's findings will be
used to decide whether Papaconstantinou should stand trial. In
an interview with Ethnos newspaper on Sunday, repeated his
claims that he did not tamper with the list, which was given to
him by the then French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde in
2010. Papaconstantinou also raised questions about the role of
PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, who succeeded him as finance
minister in 2011. The radical leftist party SYRIZA, meanwhile,
is pressing for George Papandreou, who was prime minister when
the alleged doctoring took place, to face an inquiry. The fact
that details of three accounts from just over 2,000 were missing
from the list prosecutors had been investigating was discovered
after Greek authorities obtained from the French government the
original version of the list two weeks ago. The three accounts
belong to Papaconstantinou's two cousins and their husbands,
according to prosecutors who checked the two versions of the
list with the help of the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE).
(ANSAmed).
(ANSAmed).
