Slovenian MEP and European Parliament's rapporteur on Macedonia, Zoran Thaler stepped down on Monday after The Sunday Times has accused him of corruption.

In a press release posted on his website, Thaler says that his "resignation should enable an investigation of all facts and circumstances of this attempt to compromise my name, without any pressure."

"In accordance with my ethical standards, I would like that the truth comes out and that it shows who acted legally and who illegally", says Thaler in a statement.

On Sunday, The Sunday Times revealed that three MEPs and former ministers from Romania, Slovenia and Austria, Adrian Severin, Zoran Thaler and Ernst Strasser respectively have been exposed in financial scandal.

Journalists posed as financial lobbyists and have approached MEPs offering them large sums of money yearly salary of €100,000 in return for watering down banking reform legislation.

Adrian Severin has sent an invoice for €12,000 for “consulting services.”

Zoran Thaler, former Slovenian FM requested the money to be transferred on association’s account based in London.

And former Austrian interior minister Ernst Strasser, who stated he was the lobbyist, requested first rate of the money, € 25,000 to be transferred on his association’s account in Austria.

After “Sunday Times” exposed the scandal, daily reports, Severin said he did not do anything bad while Strasser and Thaler stated that they knew from the very beginning that it was about reporters and they only wanted to find out to what extent the things will go.