HispanicBusiness

Greece's parliament is set to vote next week on whether to launch a formal investigation on whether two former prime ministers failed to take action on a list that identified multi-millionaires suspected of tax evasion, reports said on Wednesday.

Lawmakers from the right-wing Independent Greeks and the far-right Golden Dawn party signed a proposal asking parliament to investigate Lucas Papademos and his socialist predecessor George Papandreou over the so-called Lagarde List.

The list contains the names of more than 2,000 Greek citizens with huge deposit accounts at a Geneva branch of HSBC and was given to former finance minister George Papanconstantinou by his then-counterpart Christine Lagarde of France in 2010.

Since it reached Greek hands, the list reportedly vanished and was revealed only late last year, causing many Greeks to react in anger over authorities' failure to crack down on tax evasion while their own salaries and pensions have been repeatedly slashed.

The vote is expected to take place on January 17. At least 151 deputies in the 300-seat parliament must back the motion to force a parliamentary investigation.

The list has caused a nationwide scandal after public prosecutors investigating the incident also found the names of the relatives of Papaconstantinou had been deleted.

Parliament is also expected to vote next week on whether to investigate Papanconstantinou and his successor, former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos, over their role in handling the list.