Greek parliament speaker steps down The speaker of the Greek parliament stepped down on Monday, saying he would stay off the job while a prosecutor investigated claims that he and two former cabinet ministers were involved in an alleged €10bn money-laundering operation. Evangelos Meimarakis, a long-serving conservative lawmaker, denied the allegations, published on Sunday by the weekly newspaper RealNews. "I will do whatever it takes for the truth to emerge," Mr Meimarakis said a statement published on the Greek parliamentary website. He said his absence from the speaker's position was "voluntary and temporary." The report, which followed confirmation by the finance ministry last week that 32 senior Greek politicians were under investigation by SDOE, the financial police, for alleged corruption, sent shockwaves through the political establishment. RealNews claimed that Michalis Liapis, a former transport minister, and George Voulgarakis, who served as public order minister, were also implicated in the alleged money-laundering operation in collusion with Ioannis Karouzos, the owner of a leading Athens property company. Mr Liapis and Mr Voulgarakis strongly denied the allegations. Court officials said on Monday that both former politicians had filed defamation suits against Mr Karouzos and two of his business associates. Mr Karouzos could not be reached for comment. The three politicians were members of a conservative government between 2004 and 2007 in which Mr Meimarakis served as defence minister. The finance ministry said that SDOE would hand the results of the political corruption probe to a public prosecutor. If the cases come to court, parliament would have to vote in favour of lifting the immunity from prosecution of the lawmakers concerned. The conservative-led coalition government that came to power at elections in June has pledged to crack down on high-level corruption. Opinion polls show that most voters hold corrupt politicians responsible for the public sector spending binge that caused Greece's economic crisis.