The trial of former Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou on charges of tampering with possible tax evasion evidence continued on Tuesday with witnesses taking the stand including former colleagues and ministry staff. Papaconstantinou is on trial on allegations of striking the names of relatives off the so-called Lagarde list, containing the names and amounts of deposits held by Greek nationals at HSBC’s Swiss branch. The list was sent to Greece from France and contained 2,059 files on people who were expected to be audited by Greek authorities for possible large-scale tax evasion. Former finance secretary-general Elias Plaskovitis and former head of the ministry’s financial and economic crimes unit (SDOE) Yiannis Kapeleris who testified Tuesday both called their relations with their former chief exemplary. Kapeleris said that he found inconsistencies between the deposit amounts and the assets declared by the depositors and that he and the minister discussed the Lagarde list without reaching a conclusion about who would conduct the audits. The trial continues. (source: ana-mpa)