Former conservative New Democracy (ND) finance minister Gikas Hardouvelis told private STAR on Monday that he was afraid of the situation in Greece in 2012 and took his money out of the country. This statement was made after the spotlight was cast on his foreign accounts over the weekend following an interview by the State Minister for Fighting Corruption, Panagiotis Nikoloudis, in the Sunday weekly Real News.

The article stated that “while Hardouvelis was e-mailing the troika of Greece’s creditors to agree with new anti-popular memorandum reforms, he was at the time tax evading and sending funds abroad.”

During the interview with STAR, in which he essentially admitted that this indeed was the case, Hardouvelis complained of the way in which his activities abroad were criticized by the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government. He had not been officially informed that his accounts were being investigated and was informed of the matter by the press.

In Real News, Nikoloudis said the government had asked for Hardouvelis bank transactions to be investigated.