Greek former FinMin denies charges over Lagarde list on first day of trial

Greek former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou appeared in front of an Athens special court on Wednesday for the opening day of his trial over his role in the Lagarde list case, a list of potential tax evaders with accounts at a Swiss bank.

The former socialist minister, who faces charges of document forgery and attempted breach of trust, plead not guilty in front of the judges.

"I am innocent. I deny all the charges," he said in his opening statement.

The trial, which is expected to last until next week, is being held at a special court of 14 judges - six of them from the Council of State and eight from the Supreme Court.

Papaconstantinou is accused of erasing the names of three of his cousins from the list of 2,000 Greeks with major deposits in a Swiss bank that was handed to him in 2010 by current IMF head Christine Lagarde who was France's finance minister at the time.

The alleged losses of taxes for the state from his cousins' deposits are estimated to exceed 150,000 euros (about 170,200 U.S. dollars).

Lagarde passed the list - which was part of a wider database leaked by a French national from HSBC's Geneva branch - to Greek authorities as part of an effort to combat wide tax evasion and avert bankruptcy so as to restore economic growth in Greece.

Papaconstantinou served as finance minister for Greece from October 2009 to June 2011, under the government of George Papandreou. During his term in office, Greece signed its first international bailout in 2010.

It is the first time since 1991 that a special court which deals with ministerial misconduct cases has convened for the trial of a political figure in Greece.

In 1991, the late former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, the father of George Papandreou, and several former cabinet ministers were put on trial over their alleged involvement in a major banking corruption scandal. Endit