Greece's parliament will most likely ask for the prosecution of the minister in charge of the country's economy in 2010 - when Greece ended up asking for €240bn international bailout- regarding a corruption and tax evasion scandal.
Earlier today, the two former heads of Greece's anti money-laundering operation, Yiannis Kapeleris and Yiannis Diotis, were charged with dereliction of duty for the same case.
George Papaconstantinou, former Finance Minister and one of the architects of Greece's original bailout deal under PM George Papandreou, is accused of acting against the public interest and forging documents.
The case revolves around a list of HSBC depositors in Switzerland, known around Europe as the Falciani list. Falciani was an HSBC employee who allegedly stole the data from his employers. The records eventually found their way into the hands of the French police. The French authorities in turn shared the information with other European governments who used the list to collect tens of millions of euros.
In the summer of 2010, then French finance minister Christine Lagarde who now heads the IMF, passed on the names of 2,000 Greek nationals with deposits at the bank to her Greek counterpart, Papaconstantinou. The documents was christened the Lagarde list in Greece and it was hoped that the Greek government would use the list of wealthy depositors to check against its own tax records and crack down on tax evaders.
But the information was not used until early this year and a single cent has yet to be collected. Numerous versions of events for this lack of action have been presented to the Greek parliament and the country's voters. It is alleged that the names of Papaconstantinou's relatives were included in the list and later removed as well as that Yiannis Diotis one of the former heads of SDOE, Greece's anti money-laundering body, not only failed to take action but also made copies of the confidential information.
Later today, Papaconstantinou, who has repeatedly denied any wrong-doing, will probably become the first former minister in the decades since the collapse of the Greek military junta to be sent to court with the support of MPs from all parties.
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