Calliope Dagianta

A prosecutor on Friday called for a former head of the Financial Crime Squad (SDOE), Yiannis Diotis, to be cleared of any wrongdoing in the handling of the so-called Lagarde list of wealthy Greeks with Swiss bank deposits, named after former French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, now head of the International Monetary Fund.

First instance prosecutor Calliope Dagianta asked Parliament on Friday to lift the immunity of Golden Dawn spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris so he can face charges of breaching the privacy of former cabinet secretary Panayiotis Baltakos by recording a conversation between the two men.

The offense is considered a felony and carries a stiff prison sentence.

Former government secretary general Takis Baltakos arrives at a prosecutor's office to give a testimony in Athens yesterday. Baltakos, a top aide to the Greek prime minister, resigned last week after a leaked video showed him suggesting the government had tried to press judges to jail lawmakers from the far-right Golden Dawn party.

Supreme Court prosecutor Efterpi Koutzamani ordered Greece’s prosecutors to initiate proceedings for the immediate arrest of anyone who makes public illegally obtained footage.

Former cabinet secretary Panayiotis Baltakos is due to face a prosecutor on Monday as part of the probe into the secretly filmed footage of his conversation with Golden Dawn spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris.

An Athens prosecutor on Thursday launched an investigation into a video posted on the Internet on Wednesday showing former cabinet secretary Panayiotis Baltakos appearing to accuse Prime Minister Antonis Samaras of trying to influence a judicial probe into the neofascist Golden Dawn.