House Speaker defends controversial Parliament transfers

Greek House Speaker Nikos Voutsis has defended the scheduled transfers of public sector staff to Parliament which were criticized by the conservative opposition Thursday as a blatant case of nepotism and corruption after it emerged that many of them concerned relatives of high-ranking SYRIZA officials.
Speaking in Parliament Friday ahead of a vote on an amendment to overturn a scheduled lowering of the tax-free threshold for income, Voutsis said the transfers, which were based on a regulation that was published in February this year, were in line with a pre-existing mobility scheme. Voutsis said he had no knowledge of who had been inducted into the scheme.
He said he had "no feeling of guilt."
Reports Thursday said the transfers would have benefited, among others, Voutsis' former wife, the daughter of Deputy Speaker Tasia Christodoulopoulou and a former aide to...

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