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Πέμπτη, 26 Οκτωβρίου 2017 11:25
The former head of the finance ministry's powerful financial crimes unit (SDOE), Ioannis Diotis, was handed down a suspended 10-year sentence this week on a single charge of abuse of office. A three-justice appellate court considered that his decision not to fully investigate 2,062 Greek citizens with deposits at HSBC's Geneva branch was unlawful.
The former head of the finance ministry's powerful financial crimes unit (SDOE), Ioannis Diotis, was handed down a suspended 10-year sentence this week on a single charge of abuse of office. A three-justice appellate court considered that his decision not to fully investigate 2,062 Greek citizens with deposits at HSBC's Geneva branch was unlawful.
An appellate court prosecutor had recommended an acquittal in her summation in the same case.
The names of the depositors were included in the so-called "Lagarde list", named after then French finance minister (and current IMF chief) Christine Lagarde, who turned over the information to the then Papandreou government in Athens. Tax bureau and SDOE auditors were then ordered to investigate whether the individuals on the list had engaged in tax evasion or money laundering.
Diotis, himself a former top prosecutor and well-known for leading the successful investigation and subsequent disbanding of the "November 17" urban terror gang, later issued a statement calling the ruling a "flagrant violation of any concept of legality and the rule of law."