Former Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis and ex-Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis devised a plan to enable Greece to return to the drachma.
The plan involved raiding the central bank’s reserves and hacking into taxpayer accounts in order to return to the currency the country used before the euro.
The central bank reserves, which Lafazanis claimed to be about €22 billion, would pay for pensions and public sector wages, allowing Greece to prepare for the currency switch.
Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported that in a teleconference on July 16 with members of international hedge funds, Varoufakis claimed to been given the OK from Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras last December to design a Plan B that would allow the Greek government to create a parallel payment system that could operate in euros, but which could easily be changed into drachmas if necessary.
Further, it would permit the transactions between third parties and the state in case Greek banks were forced to close.
The plan consisted of hacking the General Secretariat of Public Revenues website and copying all passwords of taxpayers accounts.
But Tsipras did not give approval to proceed with the plan, the newspaper reported.
The opposition is now demanding explanations from the prime minister.
Deputy Prime Minister Dimitris Mardas said these plans were never discussed by the Greek government.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Varoufakis admitted that he considered a plan to create a parallel payment system but said he never intended to take Greece out of the euro.
“The context of all this is that they want to present me as a rogue finance minister, and have me indicted for treason,” Varoufakis told the Telegraph.