Stournaras: I will ask for a copy of Lagarde’s CD that got lost

"I learned about the existence of the CD from the newspapers», Finance minister Yannis Stournaras told the Financial Times about the famous CD with 1,991 names of Greek depositors in Switzerland. The case concerns the famous Faltsiani list containing major depositors in Geneva, which has not been seen by anyone for 18 months as revealed by Proto Thema.

Ordered by Christine Lagarde (in her previous role as Finance minister of France), this CD was officially given to then minister of Finance but was never utilized.

"If SDOE is unable to locate it, then we will ask our European partners for a new copy," Stournaras said. In his statement in the FT he describes the case of the lost CD as a priority and says is determined to find out what has happened to the list of Greek depositors handed by Lagarde to former minister Yorgos Papakonstantinou.

The newspaper refers to the Proto Thema story that revealed this case. The FT reproduces the statements of two former SDOE directors, Kapeleris and Diotis, that they had never seen a CD with the names of major depositors in Switzerland, and the statement by Nikos Lekkas, current Director of SDOE to Proto Thema. "I did not find anything. No list has come to SDOE. We have searched all protocols since 2010," Lekkas told Proto Thema.

According to what a Finance ministry official said to the FT, two previous governments had initiated similar proceedings but failed to finalize the agreement with Switzerland due to pressure from politicians and businessmen. Thus, the major economic newspaper confirms the information published in yesterday's issue of Proto Thema that contains the list including the names of the family of a well-known Greek politician and big businessmen in the country.

The issue of the disappearance of the list of major depositors in Switzerland has already concerned the justice system. Financial prosecutor Grigoris Peponis ordered an urgent investigation to determine whether the list was kept under wraps to protect individuals who have deposits in Switzerland.

Just last month, the ministry of Finance signed an information exchange agreement with the Swiss authorities on deposits of Greeks in Swiss banks. According to the FT, Greece is under pressure from the EU and the IMF to establish a special organisation in the Finance ministry to tackle tax evasion.

Former Finance minister Yorgos Papakonstantinou confirmed in the newspaper that he received the notorious CD in 2010 after asking Christine Lagarde for it.

The names of French, Spanish and German depositors in the same branch of HSBC in Geneva have been delivered to their respective governments.

"I found the largest amounts and sent the names to SDOE for investigation. I was told that the initial findings showed problems with their tax returns, so I gave the full list to SDOE," Papakonstantinou told FT. But both the current finance minister and the head of SDOE today, as well as at the time when Papakonstantinou supposedly handed over the CD, deny ever receiving it.