Greek ex-minister sentenced over Swiss account

Yannos Papantoniou was minister of finance and national economy between 1996 and 2001, and held the defence portfolio from 2001-2004 Keystone

A Greek former finance minister has been convicted for failing to declare €1.2 million (CHF1.4 million) that his wife had placed in a Swiss bank account.

Athens judges on Tuesday sentenced Yannos Papantoniou and his wife Stavroula Kourakou to four years each in prison and ordered them to pay fines of €10,000 respectively. The prison sentence will be suspended pending the couple’s appeal.

The court said Papantoniou, a Socialist, should have listed the sum in his 2010 annual wealth declaration.

The 65-year-old served as minister of finance and national economy from 1996-2001, and held the defence portfolio from 2001-2004.

He has said the money had already been declared under other bank accounts before it was moved to the Swiss account.

His wife’s name was reportedly found on a list of 2,000 Greeks who have holdings at the Geneva branch of HSBC.

The so-called “Lagarde List” is a CD allegedly containing their names handed over to Greece in 2010 by the former French Finance Minister and current head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde.