It’s time for the preliminary committee for the Lagarde list and Papakonstantinou

It's time for the preliminary investigation on Yorgos Papakonstantinou, as within the week the committee will begin its meetings and focusing on the former minister’s handlings, it will attempt to unravel the thread of the Lagarde list case.

Today, the parties will submit the list of MPs who will make up the 15-member committee with 5 MPs from New Democracy, 3 from SYRIZA, 2 from PASOK and 1 from the other parties. One MP will be chosen from the 18 independents.

From the ND side, Christos Markogiannakis’ participation is considered certain, as he is being promoted for president, as well as that of Miltiadis Varvitsiotis. The participation of Adonis Georgiadis, Lazaros Tsavdaridis, Kostas Koutsogiannakopoulou, Makis Voridis or Sofia Voultepsi is also likely.

SYRIZA will be represented by Zoe Konstantopoulou, Stavros Kontonis and Theodoros Dritsas, and PASOK by Dimitris Saltouros and Panagiotis Rigas. Independent Greeks will be represented by Vasilis Kapernaros and Golden Dawn by Ilias Kasidiaris or Michalis Arvanitis. Vassilis Oikonomou’s participation from DIMAR is considered certain, while Christos Giokas or Spiros Chalvatzis qualify from KKE.

In the first meetings that are scheduled for this week the committee will elect its officers and work plan. Its members will be asked to prepare an initial list of witnesses and this is where there the first clashes between the government and opposition parties will probably appear.

ND, PASOK and DIMAR are expecting the opposition to make a “raise” move, in another attempt to place Venizelos in the frame.

But PASOK also seems to be planning a coordinated strategy to involve SYRIZA members in the “underground” routes of the list’s copies to publishing offices.

ND, which will have the first say in the committee, says that “we will stay focused on our proposal and on Yorgos Papakonstantinou. This is where our investigation is focused and not on the opposition’s games. We do not intend to proceed with cover-ups and if strong new evidence appears, the investigation will be extended.”

The summoning of Papakonstantinou’s relatives who were removed from the list for examination, as well as that of his close associates who the former minister himself implicated in the processes of copying the depositors list, is considered certain.