ATHENS, March 24-- Greek former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou was sentenced to one year in prison with a three- year suspension on Tuesday for tampering with the infamous Lagarde list four years ago.

An Athens special court, which had been examining the case since late February, found the former socialist minister guilty of document forgery, but innocent of attempted breach of trust.

Papaconstantinou was accused of erasing three of his relatives' names from a controversial list of Greek depositors in Swiss bank accounts who were under investigation for possible tax evasion.

The former official was facing a maximum five year sentence in prison for doctoring the document, and a life sentence if he was found guilty for both charges without extenuating circumstances, law experts commented.

The court accepted the defense's argument that Papaconstantinou's previous clean record should be taken into account when sentencing.

Public prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou, however, asked for a tougher sentence. "This is not a trial of Papaconstantinou, it is a trial of the Greek people, whom he humiliated and libelled, and it cost several millions; because of this, he has no right to use the excuse of a clean record," she argued.

According to the verdict, Papaconstantinou would also be reimbursed the 30,000 euros-worth (about 32,800 U.S. dollars) of bail deposit.

The ruling of the special court, which is summoned for trials of politicians accused of ministerial misconduct under Greek legislature, was binding. Papaconstantinou has no right to appeal, but with a small suspended sentence he can avoid prison.

Papaconstantinou had plead not guilty to both charges from the first time the case came to light three years ago.

He claimed that he had been framed for political reasons as a scapegoat for the wrongdoings of other corrupt politicians and state officials.

The Lagarde list case is one of the most high profile cases of political misconduct in Greece in recent years.

It concerned the poor handling of the list which contained the names of more than 2,000 Greeks with major deposits in an HSBC bank branch in Geneva who were under probe for possible tax dodging.

The list was delivered to Greece by the French finance ministry when International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde was at its helm in 2010.

Lagarde passed the list - which was part of a wider database stolen by a French national from the bank branch - to Greek authorities as part of efforts to combat widespread tax evasion, and help avert bankruptcy and restore growth in Greece.

Papaconstantinou served as Greece's finance minister from October 2009 to June 2011, under the government of George Papandreou. During his term in office, Greece signed its first international bailout in 2010.

It was the first time since 1991 that a special court convened this winter for the trial of a political figure in Greece.

In 1991, late former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and several former cabinet ministers were put on trial over their alleged involvement in a major banking corruption scandal.