SYRIZA spokesman Panos Skourletis has labelled PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos a “big liar” over accusations he levelled at the leftist during an intense parliamentary debate over the Lagarde list inquiry.

SYRIZA failed in its bid to make Venizelos face a parliamentary committee over his handling of the list containing the names of more than 2,000 Greeks with accounts at the Geneva branch of HSBC.

Only 124 lawmakers voted for Venizelos to face an inquiry, as opposed to 265 MPs who voted for his predecessor Giorgos Papaconstantinou to appear before the committee.

The debate was marked by exchanges of barbs between Venizelos and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, who he accused of being a “professional slanderer”.

Venizelos also accused Skourletis of having briefed journalist that the Lagarde list contained the names of some of Venizelos’s relatives.

“He’s a big liar,” Skourletis told Skai radio on Friday morning. “He has made these accusations before and I have asked him to give names and dates. But he hasn’t, which proves that he is lying.”

Venizelos also accused SYRIZA of leaking the content of the list to journalist Costas Vaxevanis, who he accused of being the party’s “publisher of choice”. Tsipras said SYRIZA supported Vaxevanis after he published the list, along with other organizations and much of public opinion.