10.1.13
“Lagarde List” suspects Eleni Papakonstantinou, Symeon Sykiaridis and Andreas Rossonis, accused of inciting tampering and withholding of official documents, tax evasion and money laundering, testified on Wednesday afternoon. According to their lawyer “there is no evidence relating to tampering the list, all money was legal”.
The three suspects submitted copies of older tax statements and receipts for their accounts, in order to convince the prosecutors that the 1.2 million dollars found in an HSBC account in Switzerland was legally obtained. Sources indicate that tax statements prior to 1999 involved even larger sums.
When quizzed by prosecutors Peponis and Mouzakitis about tampering of the list, Mrs. Papakonstantinou explained that she had “no interest because the money is legal”. She also stated that if the list was tampered, it would be in the interest of someone who wanted to protect their name”. Mrs. Papakonstantinou has referred to political games implicating her cousin and that she only found out her involvement on the 28th of December 2012.
The three claim to have never contacted Mr. Papakonstantinou about their HSBC accounts, neither before or after the list was leaked and the bank informed them so. Both accounts were set up in 1999. Mr. Rossonis closed his account in 2005 and transferred his funds over to Greece. The other account is still active.
