A majority of lawmakers voted on Thursday to lift the parliamentary immunity of ruling New Democracy MP Athanasios Kavvadas.
The request relates to alleged offenses – including fraud against local government property, disloyalty to local government property, instigation of disloyalty, and complicity in fraud – connected to his tenure as a Lefkada municipal council member in 2016.
In the roll-call vote, 256 MPs supported lifting his immunity, four voted against, and one declared himself present.
Kavvadas, addressing Parliament, insisted he had no executive role in the municipality at the time in question.
“I have never exercised administration in the municipality of Lefkada, neither as mayor nor as responsible deputy mayor. I had no executive authority. During the period currently under judicial investigation, I did not participate in any discussion or vote of the municipal council. Consequently, I was completely unaware of any pending matter under investigation and learned of it only when I was later summoned to provide explanations, at which point I became aware of the case file,” he said.
He noted that the investigation was triggered by a citizen’s report submitted on September 5, 2017, to the financial crime prosecutor, requesting an inquiry into whether the Municipality of Lefkada had received the required 13 percent of annual turnover from a gas station and other businesses subleasing space in the Lefkada marina.
The alleged acts cited in the indictment span 2011–2017. Kavvadas pointed out that part of this period overlaps with his service both as a municipal councilor and as a member of parliament, adding that the criminal case concerns two groups, businessmen operating within the marina and members of Lefkada’s municipal councils and financial committees, including himself.
