Revelations of MEP candidate's fraud fuel political storm

Revelations that a candidate with ruling SYRIZA for the upcoming European Parliament elections has been convicted of defrauding the state fueled a political storm and public outcry on Friday, prompting the woman to pull out of the race.

Having repeatedly claimed the moral high ground over more established political parties, members of the leftist government were cautious when the story broke, in the Fileleftheros and Proto Thema newspapers.

According to the reports, Myrsini Loizou was handed a two-year suspended sentence in February 2017 for cashing the pension of her deceased mother over more than five years, costing the state more than 50,000 euros.

Commenting early on Friday morning, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said he was "sure" Loizou had not taken the money. Later in the day, however, the would-be MEP issued a statement, admitting that she...

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