Greek lawmakers drop Novartis probe against ex ministers

Greece's parliament has no jurisdiction to investigate the role of ten politicians in alleged bribes by Swiss drugmaker Novartis, lawmakers ruled on Saturday, in a controversy which has further polarized a deeply divided political landscape.

Greek prosecutors were probing allegations from three individuals suggesting doctors and public officials had accepted kickbacks in a period spanning 2006 to 2015.

Ten public officials who served under socialist and conservative governments over that period say the allegations, which they denied, was a 'sick' mud-slinging campaign fabricated by the leftist-led government.

The administration, forced to sign up to a third international debt bailout in 2015, is trailing badly in opinion polls ahead of elections scheduled in 2019.

The majority of the lawmakers that were present in the parliament, 168 out of 172,...