April 4, 2018
Greece, Politics
Greece’s central bank governor on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against two witnesses who reportedly claimed he was among several senior politicians who received illicit perks from embattled Swiss pharma giant Novartis. Yannis Stournaras’ office said in a statement the two protected witnesses, known only under their aliases, should be punished for …
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April 3, 2018
Greece, Politics
Rapid developments in the scandal around Swiss pharmaceutical Novartis, as corruption prosecutor asks banks in Greece to open the accounts of ten politicians, former prime ministers and ministers, allegedly involved in the scandal as well as the accounts of their spouses and adult children. In a letter to all Greek …
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March 21, 2018
Greece, Politics
Greek opposition parties walked out of Parliament’s preliminary investigating committee on Novartis on Tuesday, accusing the government of lack of seriousness and delaying tactics. Committee members New Democracy, Democratic Alignment (PASOK), To Potami and Centrists’ Union started walking out of Tuesday’s meeting after ruling SYRIZA-ANEL coalition MPs proposed that the …
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March 5, 2018
Greece, Politics
The Novartis scandal brought changes in Greece’s political balances, as the majority of Greeks appear to demand full “catharsis” in Novartis case and changes in the law on ministers’ responsibility. According to a survey conducted by Pulse for the Sunday newspaper “Dimokratia” 78% of respondents want cleansing 73% want change …
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February 26, 2018
Greece, Politics
US Ambassador to Athens. Geoffrey Pyayy has told main opposition leader, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, that there is no FBI investigation on Greek politicians. During a meeting on Monday, when the two men discussed about the Novartis bribery case, Ambassador Pyatt was quoted as “The FBI investigation is focusing on crimes violating …
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February 23, 2018
Very Mix
In a new raid to Novartis offices in Athens, authorities secured a list with the names of 300 private and public doctors. the doctors reportedly received 1,000 to 5,000 euros in order to prescribe medicines of the Swiss drug-maker. The payments were paid in the time period January 2016 to …
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February 22, 2018
Greece, Politics
After a plenary debate that lasted 18 hours, the majority of Greek lawmakers voted in favor of setting up a parliamentary committee to investigate two former prime ministers and eight former ministers over allegations of bribery and money laundering by Swiss drugmaker Novartis. Majority of votes was received by EU …
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February 21, 2018
Greece, Politics
The mother of all political battles started at 9 o’ clock Wednesday morning in the plenary of the Greek Parliament. Lawmakers will have to vote and decide whether there is sufficient evidence to conduct preliminary inquiry and prosecute two former prime ministers and eights ex ministers allegedly involved in the …
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February 20, 2018
Greece, Politics
A former finance and an ex health minister filed lawsuits against the protected witnesses in Novartis bribery case. Evangelos Venizelos (PASOK) and Adonis Georgiadis (New Democracy) filed lawsuits against the protected witnesses on Tuesday, two weeks after the scandal broke out and the report by the corruption prosecutor alleged that …
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February 15, 2018
Economy
“The Novartis case is the tip of a big iceberg, one of the many reasons that led the country to bankruptcy,” deputy Health Ministry, Pavlos Polakis said on Thursday. The 85 billion euros of “black” money from drugs overpricing and illegal wages in the period from 1991 to 2010 make …
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February 15, 2018
Greece, Politics
Former New Democracy prime minister Antonis Samaras has submitted a lawsuit against prime minister Alexis Tsipras, Alternate Justice Minister for Corruption, Dimitris Papagelopoulos and Corruption Prosecutor, Eleni Touloupaki as well as against ‘everyone involved’ in the Novartis case file. Samaras had announced last week that he would file a lawsuit …
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February 13, 2018
Greece, Politics
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the government will not relinquish its right to reimbursement for damage caused to the state by Novartis, as the former coalition government of New Democracy and PASOK “did with the Siemens kickbacks case.” Tsipras was addressed the Parliament on Monday evening, after the coalition …
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February 12, 2018
Greece, Politics
Former Health Minister and now Vice president of conservative New Democracy, Adonis Georgiadis has said “they should hang me at Syntagma” if they find kickbacks from Novartis. For one more time, the ND-Vice whose name is involved in the Novartis case file sent to Palriament, was trying to prove he …
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February 12, 2018
Greece, Politics
Swiss drugmaker Novartis has promised to take “fast and decisive action” should an investigation into alleged bribery in Greece find that its managers engaged in unethical or illegal conduct. The Basel-based company is in the midst of a bribery probe in which Greek prosecutors in early 2017 raided its offices …
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February 11, 2018
Greece, Politics
Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice has confirmed it has received two requests for legal assistance from Greece and the United States linked to probes into Novartis and alleged bribes involving the Swiss drugmaker and Greek doctors and public officials. The two requests for legal assistance linked to the Novartis-Greek scandal …
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February 11, 2018
Greece, Politics
Police raided the house of a close associate of New Democracy Vice-President Adonis Georgiadis on Saturday. The raid was part of the ongoing investigation into the Novartis bribery case. Citing sources, athensnewsagency notes that the raid was ordered by the corruption prosecutor who is handling the case and who will …
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February 9, 2018
Greece, Politics
Discredit the corruption prosecutors having investigated in the Novartis bribery case, question the credibility of the the protected witnesses, demand that their identity is revealed. This has been the strategy of those whose names have been involved in the case file of the Novartis as wells as a large part …
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February 9, 2018
Greece, Politics
EU Migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said that he will file a lawsuit to Greece’s Supreme Court (Arios Pagos) and also a request to lift the protection status of one of the “protected witnesses” whose testimony has involved the name of former Health Minister in Novartis bribery case. In a press …
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February 8, 2018
Greece, Politics
European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, has said that he will brief the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, his fellow Commissioners and other EU Institutions on the Novartis case in a “documented and analytical manner,” as he said. His name is among the ten names of …
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February 6, 2018
Greece, Politics
The case file of the Novartis kickbacks investigation was submitted to the Plenary early Tuesday Afternoon. Acting Palriament Speaker, Tasia Christodoulopoulou, confirmed the delivery and read the names of those politicians, 2 former prime ministers and 8 ex ministers of Health, Finance and Labor, allegedly involved in the scandal as …
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