ATHENS: Two former Greek prime ministers and eight former ministers have been implicated in an alleged corruption scandal involving Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, a judicial source said Monday.
Greek anti-corruption prosecutors have asked parliament to hand over any files relating to the alleged bribery in light of the suspected involvement of the former ministers, who were in office between 2006 and 2015 – before the current government came to power – the source said.
Greece’s justice minister Stavros Kontonis said at the time that Novartis had likely bribed “thousands” of doctors and civil servants to promote its products and continued to sell “overpriced” drugs even after the country was hit by economic crisis in 2010 and huge cuts were imposed on state budgets, leaving many Greeks without access to affordable medicine. Novartis issued a statement saying it was “aware of the media reports about our business practices” in Greece and that it was continuing to cooperate with the authorities. Scores of people have been questioned in a probe ongoing since 2016, with anti-corruption prosecutors visiting Novartis’s premises near Athens in early 2017 to gather evidence. The case gained attention following a suicide attempt by a Novartis manager on New Year’s Day 2017.
