The mother of former Greek prime minister George Papandreou has sued financial investigators and three newspapers over claims she held a 550-million-dollar Swiss bank account, a judicial source said Wednesday. Margaret Chadd, 90, accuses the weekly edition of To Vima and scandal-prone Proto Thema and Dimokratia of falsely claiming she held the account, linking her to the so-called Lagarde list scandal.

Greece's anti-European communist party, the KKE, elected a new leader replacing veteran female politician Aleka Papariga after her 22-year continuous run, the party announced Sunday. "The new central committee has elected Dimitris Koutsoumbas as general secretary of the KKE committee," the party said in a statement. The 68-year-old Papariga, daughter of communists who resisted Nazi occupation during World War II, is the only woman in Greece to have headed a party for so long.

A Greek prosecutor has charged three former ministers with failing to properly declare their wealth and revenue in order to avoid tax. The charges laid Wednesday came two days after another ex-minister, Akis Tsochatzopoulos, received an eight-year jail term for hiding his revenue in the first of a series of trials related to his years in power. Tsohatzopoulos, 73, has denied the charges and plans to appeal. The court cases come at a time when Greece is suffering from heavy debt levels and amid tough austerity measures.

French President Francois Hollande begins on Tuesday a one-day visit to Greece to express support for the recession-hit country's recovery efforts. "The purpose of my visit is to bring France's support for Greece to succeed, and for Europe to advance with (Greece)," Hollande told leading Greek daily Ta Nea on Monday. Hollande's trip is a "message of confidence and backing," his office has said, adding that since he took power nine months ago the Socialist leader has championed the idea that Athens remain within the euro common currency zone.