Former defense minister Yannos Papantoniou may very well be prosecuted for not properly declaring €2.85 million, deposited in Greek and Swiss bank accounts belonging to his wife, according to the Real News newspaper.
According to an article published last Sunday, on the eve of a national holiday, the finance ministry’s financial and economic crime unit (SDOE) reportedly found that Stavroula Kourakou, Mr. Papantoniou’s current wife, had a total of €2.85 million deposited in bank accounts in Switzerland and Greece. The amounts deposited did not correspond to Mrs. Kourakou’s income.
A sum of €1.5 million was deposited in an HSBC bank account in Switzerland and €1.35 million was deposited in several bank accounts in Greece. The HSBC account had come to light as part of an investigation into the so-called Lagarde list, after Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts, with possible links to tax evasion.
Mr. Papantoniou served as defense minister from 2001 to 2004. Before that, he had served as economy and finance minister from 1994 to 2001, bringing Greece into the euro. Both tenures were under socialist Pasok administrations.
He initially had claimed that the presence of his wife’s name on the Lagarde list was simply a case of synonimity. He then claimed that he did not know of the sum, as his wife had kept it from him for personal reasons.
Tax authorities passed on their findings to financial prosecutors. The initial investigation took 2.5 years and regards the years 2000-2010.
The development comes a few weeks after Akis Tsochatzopoulos, Mr. Papantoniou’s predecessor in the ministry of defense, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of money laundering.
Mr. Papantoniou and Mrs. Kourakou had been charged last March for not properly declaring their income in 2008, and consequently had been released on bail. Politicians in Greece have the legal obligation to annually declare the provenance of their own wealth and that of close family members. The process, similar to a declaration of financial interests, is known as “pothen esches” (“where did you get it from”).
Two other former ministers, Petros Doukas and Giorgos Voulgarakis, of New Democracy, were also charged for not fully declaring their assets last March.
Tax and judicial authorities are also investigating several cases, relating to military procurement under Mr. Papantoniou’s tenure as defense minister.
A $600 m. sale of U.S. helicopters to Greece in August 2003 cost $70 million more than the initial contract price because complex financial instruments were used to complete the sale (link, in Greek). Judicial authorities ordered an investigation into the matter in November 2012.
A separate investigation is being held into purchases made by the Greek navy. These would include the procurement of submarines from German firm HDW / Ferrostaal. Ferrostaal AG was fined €140 million by a Munich court in 2011, in a case involving two former company managers accused of paying bribes in Greece and Portugal.