Independent Greeks MP: ‘I was offered between €2 and 3 million to vote for president’ (UPD)

Updates:

* Press reports identify the man who allegedly tried to bribe Haikalis as one Giorgos Apostolopoulos, a former Deutsche Bank employee. 

* According to the Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos, state prosecutor Isidoros Doyiakos has denied earlier reports that his office had issued an announcement that it could not confirm Haikalis’ claim after conducting an extensive investigation.

* Government spokesperson Sofia Voultepsi said the allegations were ‘a badly staged charade’ and hinted at legal proceedings if the bribery evidence doesn’t stack up. 

Independent Greeks MP and former actor Pavlos Haikalis told Antenna TV station that he was offered €3 million in installments, a settlement of his bank loans and advertising contracts to vote in the presidential election for the coalition government’s nominee for president, Stavros Dimas.

“They offered me €700,000 cash as a first installment and a settlement of my bank loans and advertising contracts,” he said.

“They were offering 2 to 3 million to vote for president,” he continued, adding that he has already testified to prosecutors over the claim.

In a press conference after Haikalis made public his allegation, the Independent Greeks said the middleman, who attempted the bribe, worked for Deutsche Bank and for a Greek Bank.

Press reports later identified the man (link in Greek) as one Giorgos Apostolopoulos.  

Haikalis said that he held two meetings with the middleman and that both were recorded. Visual and audio evidence has been handed to prosecutors, he said. The Independent Greeks said Haikalis informed the prosecutor on December 6

However, according to the Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos, state prosecutor Isidoros Doyiakos has denied earlier reports that his office had issued an announcement that it could not confirm Haikalis’ claim after conducting an extensive investigation.

Government spokesperson Sofia Voultepsi said the allegations were ‘a badly staged charade’ and hinted at legal proceedings if the bribery evidence doesn’t stack up. 

Haikalis made his claim public via telephone, confirming earlier comments by popular actor and stand-up comedian Lakis Lazopoulos who revealed on the TV show that an attempt had been made to bribe Haikalis.  

Lazopoulos said he not only heard about it,  but that he also witnessed it happen.

Lazopoulos claimed he knew of another MP that accepted a bribe to vote in the election.
 
“During a conversation with  another MP. I understood that, not only an attempt was made, but he accepted the bribe,” Lazopoulos said.

Stavroula Xoulidou, an Independent Greeks MP  also claimed a few weeks ago on Greek TV that she was offered ‘€2 or 3 million’ by a cadre of ruling New Democracy to “solve her financial problem” and  appeared before a Supreme Court prosecutor to explain her allegation.

The claims by Haikalis and Xoulidou follows a court investigation launched in October when a senior ranking member of main opposition Syriza referred to a media report that alleged that businessmen, linked to the government, had created a special fund to bribe lawmakers to vote for the coalition’s nominee for president.