Greek central banker denies rift with government

Greece's central banker on Saturday denied that the leftist government of Alexis Tsipras was seeking to squeeze him out as he probes the loans of a politically sensitive bank.

"There is no plan to defenestrate me," Yannis Stournaras told reporters after a meeting with Tsipras.

Relations with the government "had never soured," he insisted.

Stournaras is about to deliver the results of a probe into loans given out by Attica Bank, a state-controlled lender considered close to Tsipras' administration.

Stournaras said the probe by the Bank of Greece and European watchdog SSM, which he oversaw, covered Attica bank loans "over quite a large period of time."

The meeting came two days after investigators raided the office of Stournaras' wife Lina Nikolopoulou, who is a public relations executive, in a separate probe into an allegedly irregular promotion campaign at Greece's state watchdog Keelpno.

Nikolopoulou later issued a statement claiming that the "real target" of the raid was to put pressure on her husband.

Tsipras' Syriza party has repeatedly attacked Stournaras, a respected economist who was finance minister under the previous conservative administration.

Government daily Avgi on Friday said Stournaras was "cornered and lashing out" after the raid on his wife's office.

On Thursday, the Bank of Greece had rejected nominations put forward by the government for Attica Bank's governing board.

A compromise was reportedly reached a day later.