Furore over allegations in Greek press that Margaret Papandreou is on list of those who stockpiled fortunes overseas
Greece's civil war over naming and shaming suspected tax evaders intensified following the claim by police that former prime minister George Papandreou's octogenarian mother was behind a Swiss bank account of mutual funds worth $550m (£342m).
Allegations that US-born Margaret Papandreou was on the so-called "Lagarde list", identifying Greeks who had stockpiled fortunes in Switzerland, provoked uproar after two popular newspapers published the claims on Sunday.
Citing high-level officials at the crisis-hit country's financial crime squad, SDOE, the two weeklies, To Vima and Proto Thema, named Papandreou as the primary beneficiary of one of the biggest accounts on the list of more than 2,000 wealthy Greeks with deposits in the Geneva branch of HSBC. The American issued a vehement denial. "Why such lies? Why such attacks? Is it because my family never served this country's interest groups?" she asked.
As the furore deepened, Papandreou, who had four children, including George, with the late socialist prime minister Andrea Papandreou, received support from an unexpected corner. The editor of the magazine Hot Doc that sent shockwaves through Greece by publishing the list in October, rushed to her defence, brushing off the allegation as a dirty tactic by media barons bent on settling old scores.
"The whole story is the product of rumour," he said. "It's a very dirty game. Instead of investigating who is on the list, which has sat in the office drawers of ministers for over two years, scenarios are now being created as to what names are behind the names on the list. The truth of the matter is that there are hundreds of offshore companies also on the list which should be looked into. This is about the press settling accounts. Margaret Papandreou is a victim."
The bank account to which Papandreou was allegedly linked is in the name of the "private employee" Maria Pandeli.
According to To Vima, Nikolaos Lekkas, the director of inspections at SDOE, raised the issue of the 89-year-old's involvement in the account at a meeting attended by other senior inspectors in October. The information was passed in testimony to prosecutors compiling a parliamentary report into the handling of the list by two senior SDOE officials, including its chief director Stelios Stassinopoulos.
Lekkas had reportedly told colleagues that "behind the biggest account on the list is Mrs Margaret Papandreou". But in a statement to Hot Doc he denied the claim: "I never named people who are supposedly referred to, or involved, in any way with the aforesaid list."
George Papandreou, who navigated Greece through the worst of its debt woes after the economic crisis erupted within months of his socialist government assuming power in late 2009, angrily slammed the allegations as part of a concerted campaign to besmirch the efforts he had made to rid the country of corruption. The socialist premier's attempts to clean up public life included loosening ties between politicians and the media. Both stories were "rumours without facts" said the politician, who stepped down as prime minister and leader of the Pasok party last year.
As the recession-plagued country's plight has gone from bad to worse with austerity-whipped Greeks ever more angry with their lot, demands for punishment to be meted out have also got louder. No person is more associated with Greece's economic collapse than Papandreou, the first eurozone prime minister to seek international assistance from the IMF and other EU member states when it became clear Greece was heading for bankruptcy.
"People want scapegoats and he is a very easy one," said a well-placed source who requested anonymity because of the uproar the scandal has caused. "I firmly believe he handled the crisis badly, but I do not for a moment believe this story about his mother being on the list. The owners of newspapers like To Vima are furious with Papandreou for blocking their attempts to get loans from the Bank of Greece."
This is not the first time that the Papandreou clan has been hit by scandal. The former prime minister's brother, Nikos, hit the headlines earlier this year when it was revealed the younger Papandreou, a writer by profession, was paying €6000 a month to live in lavish quarters with a swimming pool, Filipino maid and Porsche car.
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