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After the bad election result in the European elections and the seven deputies who left the parliamentary group, now Independent Greeks is experiencing legal problems. In particular, the large panel of the district court in Athens has sentenced party leader Panos Kamenos for disseminating false information and imposed on him a monetary fine of 100,000 euro. The money should be paid to IJ Partners company and its president and representative Theodoros Margelos. In 2009, Kamenos had accused him of using "speculative procedures" in buying and selling insurances on Greek government bonds (CDS) of the Greek Postbank, involving Andrikos Papandreou, the brother of Greek Prime Minister at the time.

The court adjudges the sum as monetary compensation for the moral damage caused to the company by the public statements by the leader of Independent Greeks. According to Kamenos, Margelos had staked on Greece’s default by buying and selling CDS insurances.

According to the decision, the allegations stated by Kamenos are "false and defamatory" and therefore a penalty payment of 500 euro will be imposed on him each time he makes them. He will also have to pay court costs to the amount of 12,500 euro. The only request of the company, which the court has not satisfied, is the immediate execution of the sentence.

IJ Partners, which is based in Switzerland, filed a claim against the leader of Independent Greeks in relation to his public accusations that it had "first-hand information" on the inclusion of Greece in the mechanism for economic assistance and "has staked on the default of the country" on its basis. According to Kamenos, the company had bought CDS insurances of Greek government bonds and sold them to the state-owned Postbank at the end of 2009.

The court defines the allegations as false and defamatory, deciding that Kamenos acted intentionally. The decision states, "In order to recover the damages of the plaintiff and in view of the scale of the offence and the disseminated defamatory statements, as well as of the degree of culpability and premeditation on the part of the defendant, who claimed to have evidence for the deal with the CDS insurances that has proved to be non-existent and that has never been brought to court, and in connection with the multiple repetitions of the defamatory statements, despite the fact that the plaintiff has denounced them, and concerning the social and economic situation of the parties, both of which are financially stable, the Court considers that the plaintiff should be awarded the sum of 100,000 euro."

In its decision, the court refers to the two official traverses on the part of IJ Partners and Postbank, and stresses that Panos Kamenos did not prove the truth of his allegations. The decision also states, "He did not present documents for any transaction of the company, plaintiff, in connection with the CDS insurances on Greek bonds neither a code for the realization of such a transaction by the international organization ISDA, and this fact refutes his claims."

It is worth noting that a claim against Panos Kamenos for the same case had been filed by the brother of Greece’s Prime Minister at the time, Andrikos Papandreou. The large court panel in Athens decided in his favour in terms of that part of the claim, which concerned the insults inflicted by the leader of Independent Greeks.