Lagarde list

Former Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou on Wednesday appeared in court for the opening of a criminal trial against him on allegations he removed relatives' names from a list of Greeks holding Swiss bank accounts in HSBC.

Former Prime Minister George Papandreou threatened legal action on Tuesday against anyone reproducing an extract from a soon-to-be published book by Herve Falciani, the former HSBC employee who leaked the details of thousands of depositors to authorities, including the Greeks included on the so-called Lagarde list.

The head of a new ministry created by the government to crack down on corruption is preparing a barrage of inspections on wealthy Greeks who are unable to justify the source of their income, Kathimerini understands.

The former head of the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE), Yiannis Diotis, is to be tried for breach of faith in connection with the so-called Lagarde list of Greeks with Swiss bank accounts, according to a ruling by the Council of Athens Appeals Court Judges issued Thursday.

Unless there are snap general elections, ex-Finance Minister Giorgos Papaconstantinou will stand before a special court by February 11 to answer charges that he tampered with a list containing the names of more than 2,000 Greeks with deposits at the Geneva branch of HSBC in order to remove the names of three relatives.

A Supreme Court judicial council ruled on Thursday that former Finance Minister Giorgos Papaconstantinou should stand trial for allegedly tampering with an official document and breach of faith.

The felony charges relate to the so-called Lagarde list of Greek depositors at the Geneva branch of HSBC. The decision was reached by 4 votes to 1.

The trial of former minister Yannos Papantoniou and his wife, Stavroula Kourakou, for submitting inaccurate “pothen esches” (declaration of source of income) forms for 2008 was postponed to June 8, 2015, an Athens court ruled on Wednesday. The decision was reached following a strike by lawyers.

Former Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou and his wife, Stavroula Kourakou, were on Tuesday sentenced to four years in prison by an Athens misdemeanors court which found the pair guilty of making a false derivation of wealth (pothen esches) claim.