Man accused by MP denies kickback claims, ND links
The man at the heart of allegations that he tried to bribe an Independent Greeks MP on Friday denied any connection with New Democracy.
Giorgos Soukouras has been accused by lawmaker Stavroula Xoulidou (photo) of calling her and contacting her via Facebook to tempt her to vote for the government’s presidential candidate in February in return for up to 3 million euros.
“New Democracy has nothing to do with this and whatever I told Mrs Xoulidou was my personal opinion,” said Soukouras. He admitted to meeting the MP in her office once but said that the pair discussed cuts to farmers’ pensions.
Soukouras admitted making references to the presidential election in his correspondence with the MP but said he never mentioned a bribe. “What Mrs Xoulidou is saying is a fairy tale,” he said. The lawmaker gave a deposition to a prosecutor on Thursday and the allegations will be investigated.
