Mystery of Lagarde List deepens

For Greek daily Dimokratia, the publication of the “Lagarde List” by Hot Doc weekly has blown up a hurricane. Named after International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who was French finance minister when the list was handed over to her, the document lists 2,059 wealthy Greeks, some well known, who have parked their fortunes in Swiss bank accounts. First released by an HSBC employee, Lagarde then forwarded it to the Greek government in 2010. It was never followed up on.

Dimokratia is now looking into the circumstances under which the list was ignored. George Papaconstantinou, Greek finance minister at the time, insists he has forgotten to whom he forwarded it, while his successor Evangelos Venizelos said he has lost it. “Why so much mystery, and who benefits from it?” asks the newspaper, noting that “the road is now clear for a special parliamentary committee to examine charges against Papaconstantinou.”

Meanwhile, the only person really affected by this case is Hot Doc editor Kostas Vaxevanis, who was arrested and then released on October 28 for violating the law on publication of private data. He is to appear before a court in Athens on 29 October. That arrest may explain the caution shown by the rest of the Greek press. “Silence shrouds the Lagarde list,” notes To Ethnos, which remains rather sceptical —

The journalist and editor of Hot Doc published the list of Greeks with money in a Swiss bank account, with HSBC only, and beyond the reach of the taxman. He did not reveal the balances of their accounts, only their names, and he says the list is genuine. But is it really the list sent by Christine Lagarde, French finance minister in 2010, to her Greek counterparts? This list names ship-owners, industrialists, students, etc.... We should be able to see if the balances really do correspond to those names. Now that the editor has been arrested, the investigation has got off to a start, especially in Parliament, where politicians will be ‘interviewed’.