Wednesday 7 November 2012

The Lagarde List Affair.


After Greek journalist Kostas Vaxevanis published (October 28) a list containing the names of 2,059 alleged high-profile tax evaders, the Troika occupation Greek government ordered his arrest and trial. The BBC covered the whole affair, day by day. Here is a timeline of the affair, in headlines:

Sunday, October 28 (last updated at 16:28 GMT)
Greece arrests journalist over 'Lagarde List' banks leak
Monday, October 29 (last updated at 23:23 GMT)
Greece bank leak reporter Costas Vaxevanis sent to trial
"The prosecutor issued a warrant for Vaxevanis's arrest because he published a list of names without special permission and violated the law on personal data".
Thursday, November 1 (last updated at 16:39 GMT)
Greek journalist Costas Vaxevanis on trial over bank list
"French authorities gave the names to their Greek counterparts two years ago, but documents were never investigated".
Thursday, November 1 (last updated at 20:15 GMT)
Greek bank list editor Costas Vaxevanis acquitted
"Lawyers for Mr Vaxevanis, 46, (...) said no-one on the list had actually complained of a breach of privacy.
"After a one-day trial, a court in Athens found Mr Vaxevanis innocent.
(...)
"The BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens says the swift ruling will be an embarrassment to the Greek government".
If you ask me, to call this an embarrassment is an understatement.

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Consider prominent PASOK politician George Papaconstantinou:
"Then Greek Finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, said precisely last Wednesday in the Greek Parliament that he did not know what happened to the [then French Finance minister Christine] Lagarde list's original version". (See here, in Spanish, my translation)
Aussie readers might remember Papaconstantinou's words when he spoke last May 12, in SBS TV Insight show:
"So nobody is outside this, nobody is innocent to the crime. Of course politicians bear the biggest burden, and of course they will be punished for this, as they are being punished (...)."
For a man so ready to re-distribute responsibilities for the Greek fiasco, Papaconstantinou seems strangely uninterested on determining who should "bear the biggest burden".

Just like the current Greek government, that appears more interested in harassing (very clumsily and ineffectively, at that) the whistle-blower than in punishing those who should "bear the biggest burden":


That's a bit more than an "embarrassment".

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