Prosecutor obtains list of major depositors
A list containing the names of about 2,000 Greeks who had deposits
totaling some 1.5 billion euros in a branch of HSBC in Geneva,
Switzerland, was in the hands of financial prosecutor Grigoris Peponis
on Tuesday after the data was forwarded by PASOK leader Evangelos
Venizelos.
Venizelos, an ex-finance minister, said he had the list
on a memory stick, which he passed to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
The premier gave it to the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE), which
forwarded it to Peponis.
A stir was caused after Giorgos
Papaconstantinou, who preceded Venizelos as finance minister, told the
Financial Times that he had received a CD in 2010 containing the names
of Greek depositors from his French counterpart at the time, Christine
Lagarde. Papaconstantinou said that he passed the information to SDOE
but suggested that the CD had gone missing since.
Venizelos said
that he had presumed the data was in the hands of authorities but came
forward with the memory stick when it was suggested that SDOE did not
have the information. The PASOK leader cast doubt on whether the data
could be used to launch action against suspected tax evaders as it had
not been obtained legally.
Sources told Kathimerini that many of
the accounts on the list were not active and many belonged to Greek
businessmen based abroad, although a former New Democracy politician was
also among the depositors.
Peponis will investigate why the
contents of the list were not probed earlier, as well as whether the
deposits were made legally.
Meanwhile, the former head of
procurement at the Defense Ministry, Yiannis Sbokos, was arrested on
Tuesday evening. Sbokos is one of several people accused of corruption
alongside ex-Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos. |
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