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Friday, January 18, 2013

Greece debates probe of Swiss account scandal





ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's Parliament was to vote late Thursday on whether to launch criminal investigations into two former prime ministers and two finance ministers over how leaked data on Greeks who banked in Switzerland was handled.

[...] Greek authorities failed to investigate the data for potential tax evasion, sparking outrage at a time of severe salary and pension cuts, and spiraling unemployment.

All three parties in the governing coalition have said they are in favor of investigating former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, the main architect of Greece's first austerity program, for allegedly deleting the names of three of his relatives from the list and for breach of duty — offenses that could mean he goes to prison.

The main opposition left-wing Syriza party also wants the probe to include former Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who currently heads one of the governing coalition parties, while the right-wing Independent Greeks also want investigations into former prime ministers George Papandreou and Lucas Papademos.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sfgate.com