Athina Linou has announced that she will not surrender her parliamentary seat after being expelled from Syriza's parliamentary group for alleged transparency violations.
In a direct message to Syriza's president, Stefanos Kasselakis, Ms. Linou defended her management of the NGO Prolepsis, calling it “impeccable.”
She argued that by asking her to resign, Mr. Kasselakis is asking her to “accept a non-existent guilt” and is “endorsing malicious slander” against her by Pavlos Polakis.
Ms. Linou declared, “I will not resign from my position as a Member of Parliament, nor will I relinquish the seat given to me by over 25,000 voters.”
Syriza responded to MS. Linou’s refusal by stating that she failed to provide the necessary clarifications about her actions and reiterated that the parliamentary seat belongs to the party, not to her.
Ms. Linou was expelled after her explanations regarding her role at the Prolepsis Institute, an NGO focused on preventive medicine and public health, were found unsatisfactory by Kasselakis. Kasselakis stated, “I was not satisfied with her explanations, and my office has requested her resignation and the return of her seat.”
He also noted that ms. Linou’s financial activities should have been thoroughly examined before she was included on Syriza'sballot.
The issue began when Pavlos Polakis, a former Syriza health minister, accused Ms. Linou of violating transparency rules.
Ms. Linou responded by taking legal action against Mr. Polakis, accusing him of spreading “lies to serve his political ambitions.”
She also provided 459 pages of financial data from the NGO to Mr. Kasselakis’ office, inviting any necessary inspections.