Novartis scandal. A former minister sentenced to a fine of 10,000 euros.

A former left-wing minister was fined 10,000 euros on Saturday in Greece as part of the investigation into the Novartis laboratory corruption scandal, while a former anti-corruption prosecutor was acquitted, according to a source judicial.

The Greek subsidiary of Novartis had admitted in 2020 to having paid, between 2012 and 2015, bribes to employees of Greek public hospitals to increase the sales of its drugs. (symbolic inage)

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Dimitris Papangelopoulos, Deputy Minister of Justice under the left-wing government of Alexis Tsipras (2015-2019), was sentenced to a fine of 10,000 euros for “breach of duty”. He was accused of having exerted pressure on justice as part of the investigation of overbilling of drugs by the Swiss group Novartis.

He was acquitted on another part of the case.

He had implicated, when the affair was revealed six years ago, conservatives from New Democracy (ND) and socialists from Pasok-Kinal.

Former anti-corruption prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki, who played an important role in the revelation of this affair and was prosecuted for “abuse of power”, was acquitted.

The Greek subsidiary of Novartis had admitted in 2020 to having paid, between 2012 and 2015, bribes to employees of Greek public hospitals to increase the sales of its drugs.

These methods would have allowed Novartis to acquire a privileged position on the Greek market and cost, according to the judicial inquiry conducted by the previous government, around 3 billion euros to the Greek State, then in full economic crisis.

The investigation initiated by Dimitris Papangelopoulos and Eleni Touloupaki had implicated ten politicians from former right-wing and socialist governments, presented as accomplices of Novartis. The right now in power accused them of having orchestrated “a plot” to harm him.

Of the ten politicians once morest whom a preliminary investigation had been opened, only three were finally the subject of legal proceedings. In 2021, the judges closed the case having failed to gather enough evidence once morest them.

The legal proceedings once morest Eleni Touloupaki had been criticized by human rights defenders, MEPs and the left-wing opposition who denounced a “political trial”.

ATS