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Tension and a scandal marked the beginning of the session of the parliamentary commission to investigate the "Lagarde List" case, in which PASOK’s leader Evangelos Venizelos is testifying. He has been called as a witness in the investigation of the list of 2,063 Greek citizens who hold accounts of millions of euro in the Swiss branch of HSBC. Venizelos was deputy chairman of George Papandreou’s cabinet in 2011 and Finance Minister in the caretaker government of Lucas Papademos. The "Lagarde List" has become the starting point for investigating the political protection of wealthy Greeks, who have not declared their funds but exported them abroad.

There is no evidence for the time being that all persons on the list are tax evaders but some of them are in prison or there are pending cases against them in connection with other financial frauds. Evangelos Venizelos claimed for a long time that he had obtained the list in the form of a flash memory stick (USB), which he had not opened. He had handed it over to the tax authorities and let specialized bodies take further actions by starting an investigation of the origin of the assets of the persons on the list.

The latest testimony of Yiannis Diotis, former head of the tax services, has made it clear that Venizelos was aware of the list, knew the names on it and despite his position of Finance Minister, did not take action against the possible concealment of income by the people on it.

Now, Venizelos has to explain the situation before the 13-member parliamentary commission that involves representatives of all parties in the Greek National Assembly. At the very beginning of the interrogation, two members of the commission, namely Adonis Georgiadis of New Democracy and Ilias Kasidiaris of Golden Dawn, had quarrelled, which interrupted the meeting. AMPE Agency reports that Georgiadis had interrupted Kasidiaris when asking a question, thus provoking a verbal duel between the two deputies.

The chairman of the commission gave a compelling extraordinary break to calm the spirits before they resulted in physical violence. During the break, PASOK’s leader left the room and commented before journalists in parliament, "There is too much pressure due to increased testosterone. In any case, medicine has not yet found whether mental disorders are due to endocrinological problems or if it is just the opposite." SYRIZA’s representative Zoe Konstantinopoulou was particularly dissatisfied with the short break and said that it was a demonstration of a special treatment of a witness. "He comes in and goes out as he wants," said Konstantinopoulou.

After the break, Venizelos returned to the room and the interrogation was renewed, but the peace did not last for long. Shortly after the beginning of the session, Golden Dawn’s Kasidiaris called the leader of PASOK a "fat clown," which was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The chairman of the commission, Christos Markogiannakis, deprived the deputy of the right to ask questions during the meeting.

According to Ethnos newspaper, the exact dialogue between Venizelos and Kasidiaris was as follows:

Kasidiaris: You, Venizelos, have no testosterone. That is why you call from the parliamentary rostrum "Come on, dear." I am not a cheater like you.

Venizelos: You are a fascist and a dialogue with people with similar attitudes cannot take place in parliament.

Kasidiaris: Shut up, fat clown.

After Markogiannakis deprived Kasidiaris of the right to ask questions, the deputy of Golden Dawn jumped out of his skin. He started throwing cups and microphones, shouting menacingly as reported by Mega. Then, he himself left the meeting.
 
Evangelos Venizelos’ testimony continues. More details will be submitted later.