Ex PM says he had no knowledge of Lagarde list
Former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos Thursday denied having had any knowledge of the so-called Lagarde list of possible tax cheats.
In a memo sent to the president of the Parliament Thursday, the former banker who served as the country’s premier from November 2011 until May 2012, said that he was not informed about the existence of the controversial list either, formally, by his finance minister Evangelos Venizelos – who is now PASOK chief – or otherwise.
In his statement Papademos criticized a proposal by Independent Greeks and Golden Dawn in Parliament that he should be probed in connection with the handling of the list describing it as “unfounded.”
After a tense session Thursday, Greek lawmakers agreed to hold a single vote with MPs deciding which politicians should face a parliamentary inquiry over the Lagarde list scandal.
The Lagarde list – and the failure of successive governments to investigate those named on it – has provoked outrage among austerity-hit Greeks furious that authorities have done little to crack down on tax evasion by the wealthy elite.
