Leftist MPs testify in bribery probe
Leftist SYRIZA’s spokesman Panos Skourletis and the head of Alexis Tsipras’s political office, Nikos Pappas, on Thursday testified before a prosecutor probing claims that entrepreneurs close to the government were gathering money to bribe MPs into backing the coalition’s candidate for presidential elections early next year.
Skourletis, who had backed the claims originally made by the Kontra News daily, gave no details about what he told the investigating prosecutor, noting that “we are here to aid the work of judicial authorities.”
He accused the government of resorting to hypocrisy and scaremongering “to cover up the fiasco over Greece’s supposed early exit from the memorandum and the IMF.” Pappas did not comment.
Deputy appeals court prosecutor Panos Panagiotopoulos is on Friday expected to call the head of Democratic Left, Fotis Kouvelis, with Tsipras and Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos expected to be summoned in the coming days.
