Greek Parliament approves probe of 10 politicians for alleged bribery scandal

by Aggelos Skordas

Greece’s parliamentary majority voted early on Thursday morning to set up a special committee in order to conduct a preliminary criminal probe of the possible involvement of ten prominent politicians, including two former Prime Ministers, in the so called Novartis scandal. After a 21-hour heated debate, 10 separate ballot boxes were set up for a secret voting process. The parliamentary committee will consist of 21 members and the process is expected to last for no less than one month.

The former Prime Ministers allegedly involved in the pharmaceutical bribery scandal are Antonis Samaras and Panagiotis Pikrammenos (former Council of State President who served as the interim Prime Minister of Greece for 35 days in 2012). The European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship and former Health Minister of Greece Dimitris Avramopoulos is also to be investigated along with five more former Health Ministers (Adonis Georgiadis, Giorgos Koutroumanis, Andreas Loverdos, Andreas Lykourentzos and Marios Salmas), the country’s current central banker and former Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras as well as former Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos.

Nine of the politicians to be investigated were present in the Parliament and all took the podium (Avramopoulos was absent due to obligations with the European Commission but sent a note to be read), denying the accusations and stating that the so called Novartis scandal is fabricated by the current government aiming to defame them. “I am not here to provide answers regarding this despicable libel but to denounce these ridiculous allegation”, former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said among others. On his behalf, Pikrammenos, who appeared emotionally charged and could not hold his tears during his speech, pointed out that he was called to serve his country at a difficult period and he is now brought to the defendant’s bench facing unsubstantiated accusations: “And today, after six years, I find myself before you to face a baseless accusation”, he said, describing the accusations against him as “lies and unacceptable slander”.

On the opposite, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras characterised the case as the worst in Greek history and promised that justice will prevail. “We will not cover it up. The Greek people must learn who turned pain and illness into a means of enrichment”, he characteristically underlined while addressing the Parliament. “I call on you today to do the only fair and honest thing. To vote in accordance with the regulation and the Constitution, to set up a preliminary investigation committee. I want to say at the outset that I fully respect their inalienable right to defend themselves and also the presumption of innocence that applies to everyone until proven otherwise by judges and not by us”, he added.

Main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis accused Tsipras of interfering with justice in the case in an effort to “get rid of” his political opponents. He said that the Premier is cultivating conspiracy theories and vulgarity in the political discourse, while turning public television into a tool of overt propaganda. “Who will invest in a country with such a toxic political environment” he asked during the debate.

The proposal for a preliminary criminal probe was supported in the Parliament by the majority of the MPs of the ruling coalition partners, SYRIZA and Independent Greeks (ANEL), extreme right Golden Dawn and the Greek Communist Party (KKE). New Democracy, Democratic Alliance (DISY) and To Potami objected the procedure

Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company Novartis allegedly bribed Greek politicians in order to boost the sales and prices of its products in the country.