Athens - Former Greek finance minister George Papaconstantinou was found guilty in Athens on Tuesday of tampering with a list of potential tax evaders, in a case that caused outrage among austerity-hit Greeks at the height of the crisis.
Papaconstantinou, an economist who served under ex-Socialist premier George Papandreou between 2009-2011, is one of the highest-profile political figures to be tried since Greece sank into a debt crisis in 2009.
The court found him guilty of removing the names of three relatives from the so-called “Lagarde list” of about 2,000 Greeks with money overseas, court officials said. However the charges were reduced to a misdemeanour, with the court saying that there was not enough evidence to prove that his actions have caused significant damage to the state.
Papaconstantinou was sentenced to one year in jail, but will not serve the sentence on condition he commits no crime over the next three years. He has always denied any wrongdoing.
He was acquitted of a second charge of breach of trust while serving as a minister.
The special judicial court was the first to be set up since 1991 when there was a special court for Papandreou's father, former Socialist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, who was prosecuted for involvement in a political and economic scandal.
The new leftist-led government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has promised to crack down on endemic tax evasion, which has been largely blamed for the weak state of Greek finances, and wants to use the proceeds to help ease the plight of the poor.
The existence of the so-called “Lagarde list” - a list of wealthy Greeks handed to Athens by France in 2010 - shocked Greeks, who are angry that successive governments have failed to fully investigate those on the list and pursue tax evaders.
Papaconstantinou, whose trial lasted less than a month, was expelled in 2012 from the socialist PASOK party after prosecutors found names of three of his relatives had been removed from the list.
Reuters