Margaret Papandreou, mother of former prime minister George Papandreou and former wife of the late statesman Andreas Papandreou, released a document of the Financial Crimes Unit (SDOE) at the Finance ministry with confirmation that she is not linked to any financial scandal list, including the so-called Lagarde list – a spreadsheet with roughly 2,000 potential tax evaders with undeclared accounts at Swiss HSBC bank’s Geneva branch.

The document is signed by Greece’s Financial and Crime Unit (SDOE) Special Secretary Stylianos Stassinopoulos. It is being submitted in a suit filed by Mrs. Papandreou against SDOE officials and mass media that claim she has a 500-million-euro bank account that found its way on the Lagarde list.

The Guardian ran an article titled “Ex-Greek PM’s mother linked to $550m Swiss account” and stated that she was one of the people who stockpiled fortunes abroad. The article refered to furore in the Greek press at the time concerning this. The same article revealed that writer Nikos Papandreou was also paying 6,000 euros a month for “lavish quarters with a swimming pool, Filipino maid and Porsche car.”

The Papandreou clan in 1984

Mr. Stassinopoulos, according to the document, stresses that he himself never gave interviews or made references to the media concerning wrongdoing by Mrs. Papandreou “The press reports of that time period referring to your name bear no relation to the investigations carried out by our service,” he writes in the document. “From my position, I also condemn the unfounded slanderous rumours at your expense.”

Mrs. Papandreou said that the document exonerates her completely and that the reports hoped to damage her reputation.