Chalastanis: I had instructions from Papakonstantinou to skip protocols

The Greek ambassador in Paris, Kostas Chalastanis, admitted having clear instructions from Yorgos Papakonstantinou not to follow the official protocol upon receipt of the Lagarde list by the French authorities in September 2010.

Specifically, in his testimony before the members of the parliamentary preliminary committee, the ambassador explained that on September 17, 2010, Papakonstantinou came to Paris and informed him that the following day, officials of the French Finance ministry would deliver a file whose content concerns only himself.

He claimed that Papakonstantinou had not informed him of the exact content of the file, but had stated that it is a "highly confidential and sensitive issue," so the ambassador should bypass protocols and any other process that could demonstrate its receipt by the Greek authorities.

He added that about two weeks after his meeting with Papakonstantinou, on Wednesday 29, 2010, officials of the French ministry of Finance appeared at the embassy with a file that had the former minister as the consignee.

After putting the embassy seal on it himself, he immediately gave the file to an usher, sent him to Athens, and 5 to 6 hours later the file was in Papakonstantinou’s office. He said it was received by Chrissa Hatzi, an associate of the former minister, who "informally" signed for its receipt on a simple paper. To support the informal process, he added,  he had to pay the usher’s airfare himself in order to dispatch the important file to Athens.

Today, Wednesday, the head of Electronic Crime Unit, Manolis Sfakianakis, is expected to testify on whether his team can identify the USB’s alteration date.