Greek government's spokes man and the Minister of state Theodore Roussopoulos has resigned over his alleged role in a controversial land deal between the state and a monastery, said officials on Thursday.
Roussopoulos is one of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis's closest aides, and is accused of being involved in a controversial land deal in which prime state land was exchanged for less valuable land held by the wealthy Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos.
After his resignation, Roussopoulos said that he was stepping down to defend himself from "malicious and unfounded" attacks, and denied any wrongdoing.
Roussopoulos' resignation comes a day after the Greek parliament decided to set up an investigating committee to probe into the controversial land exchange deal.
He is the second Greek minister to resign after Merchant Marine Minister Georges Voulgrakis quit over the same scandal last month. He also denied any involvement in the deal.
Meanwhile, the Greek Prime Minister Karamanlis's office said that he has accepted Roussopoulos' resignation and added that Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos will take over Roussopoulos's ministerial duties.
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