Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 12-12-28

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] 'Original' Lagarde list to Parliament on Friday

[02] The Friday edition of Athens' dailies

[03] Opinion poll: 7 in 10 Greeks pessimistic over economy

[01] 'Original' Lagarde list to Parliament on Friday

The information, dubbed the 'Lagarde list', will be added to other evidence sent to Parliament in the context of an investigation of a possible political involvement to hide serious tax evasion.

Financial prosecutors Grigoris Peponis and Spyros Mouzakitis had earlier delivered the list to their superiors at the Supreme Court so that it might be sent on to Parliament but they were both absent when it arrived, so the list has now been secured in the office of Supreme Court Prosecutor Ioannis Tentes overnight.

On Friday there will be a meeting at Tentes' office with Supreme Court Deputy Prosecuture Nikos Pantelis, the immediate supervisor of the two financial prosecutors, to discuss the list and its contents. The document will then be sent to Parliament via the justice ministry.amna

The existence of the 'Lagarde list' first came to light some months ago when former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos produced a copy of it on a portable flash drive that had been in his possession for roughly a year. The original list had been sent to his predecessor at the finance ministry, George Papaconstantinou, in the form of a CD that has not been found and of which there is no record.amna

The discovery of the list launched an investigation into whether the names on the list might be guilty of tax evasion and extensive speculation as to why its existence had not been revealed earlier. There was also speculation that the original list sent from France may have been tampered with, prompting Greek authorities to request that a second copy of the list be sent from France and turned over to the two financial prosecutors investigating the case.

There is no information at present on whether a comparison of the first list in the hands of the prosecutors and the second sent from France has yielded any new evidence. The process of comparing the two lists has now been completed and the two prosecutors intend to review all the material in the case file over the next few days in order to determine whether further action must be taken with regard to non-politicians implicated in the case, namely the two former heads of the finance ministry's financial crimes' squad SDOE that have been called to testify as suspects.amna

Meanwhile, authorities are continuing to investigate the people named in the list to determine whether they can account for the provenance of the funds they have sent abroad.

[02] The Friday edition of Athens' dailies

Bank of Greece's report on the banks' recapitalisations and the developments in 'Lagarde list' case, mostly dominated the headlines on Friday in Athens' newspapers.

AVGHI: "Hanging from the list (Lagarde)".

DIMOKRATIA: "First shock with the road tax".

EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: "Layoff carols".

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "NGO bubbles cancel thousands of hirings".

EPENDYTIS: "The huge reversals".

ESTIA: " 'Asset-seizure' Real Estate Property Tax (FAP) against Constitution".

ETHNOS: "The evaluation system in public sector".

IMERISSIA: "Banks' wager".

KATHIMERINI: "Risky loans at 46.5 billion euros".

NAFTEMPORIKI: "Banks need 40.5 billion euro capitals".

RIZOSPASTIS: "Government's antipopular measures a gift to the capital".

TA NEA: "3+1 shadows in the new Lagarde list".

6 DAYS: "The black hole of a cover-up".

[03] Opinion poll: 7 in 10 Greeks pessimistic over economy

Although only 2 out of 10 people polled registered optimism, the number of people expressing pessimism is lower than that in the last report by 10 percent; an additional 10 percent chose not to answer the question.amna

In terms of personal finances, 76 percent were pessimistic while 17 percent were optimistic. In this sixth and last report for 2012 conducted for EBEA over the phone between December 14 and 19 with 1,000 people, 75 percent said they were in support of remaining in the euro, 17 percent said they were against, and 8 percent declined to answer.

Asked about improving the efficiency of the civil sector, 6 in 10 believe that it can improve by using current staff, while only 24 percent supported staff reduction.

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