Ex-SDOE chief Kapeleris denies being given Lagarde list by Papaconstantinou
The head of Greece’s Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) when Giorgos Papaconstantinou was finance minister in 2010, Yiannis Kapeleris, has insisted that he was never given a copy of the Lagarde list.
Kapeleris submitted a written deposition to financial prosecutors Grigoris Peponis and Spyros Mouzakitis, who are also expected to quiz his successor, Yiannis Diotis, for a second time on Monday.
Sources said Kapeleris insisted he was not given a CD or memory stick containing the list of some 2,000 Greek depositors at the Geneva branch of HSBC. He said that he was give a single sheet of paper that was a printout, which he could not use to investigate suspicions of tax evasion.
Kapeleris said he returned the document to Papaconstantinou.
Diotis is seen as a key figure in the investigation after a forensic examination of the USB stick containing the list of Greek depositors, which had been given to prosecutors by PASOK leader and ex-Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, revealed that the data had been transferred onto the device on July 8, 2011.
At the time the flash drive is thought to have been in SDOE’s possession. Diotis had succeeded Kapeleris by that time.
Prosecutors are trying to find out who doctored the information to remove accounts belonging to three of Papconstantinou’s relatives. On Thursday MPs will vote on whether Papaconstantinou, Venizelos and ex-prime ministers George Papandreou and Lucas Papademos should be investigated by a parliamentary committee.
SYRIZA wants Venizelos to be probed. Keftist MP Zoe Constantopoulou claimed on Saturday that the PASOK leader had taken part in a meeting with Papaconstantinou, Papandreou and Diotis to discuss tax evasion on the same day that the data was transferred to the USB stick – July 8, 2011.
This claim was rejected by PASOK sources who said that several meetings took place on that day and none related to tax evasion or the Lagarde list.
