Andreas Loverdos

Political tensions over the alleged scandal involving Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis peaked on Thursday when ruling SYRIZA accused opposition New Democracy and the centrist Movement for Change (KINAL) of seeking to cover up ostensible offenses by politicians aligned with them. 

With one of its most prominent MPs, Andreas Loverdos, about to testify as a suspect in the Novartis case if his parliamentary immunity is lifted, the centre-left Movement for Change is charging that the entire affair is a conspiracy staged jointly by SYRIZA and the Karamanlis faction of New Democracy.

Greek MPs are next Friday to decide whether to lift the immunity of former health minister Andreas Loverdos, an MP with Movement for Change (formerly PASOK), who has been implicated in an alleged bribery scandal involving Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis.

A section of the case file on the alleged Novartis bribery scandal that prosecutors forwarded to Parliament to request that the immunity of former health minister Andreas Loverdos be lifted includes testimony by protected witnesses who claim that the politician was bribed to inform the company of an imminent haircut on Greek state bonds at the peak of the debt crisis.

The cases against most of the politicians implicated in the alleged Novartis bribery scandal will be shelved next week due to a lack of evidence, according to judicial sources on Tuesday.

Greek corruption prosecutors on Monday shelved a large part of the case regarding the alleged bribery scandal involving Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis and 10 senior Greek politicians.

The parliamentary representative of the Democratic Alignment, Andreas Loverdos, called on the government on Thursday to remove the contentious provisions of a draft bill tabled by the government which led to the resignation of the head of the Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR), Giorgos Stavropoulos.

The Greek Parliament will decide on Friday whether or not to request the prosecution of 10 prominent politicians named in a bribery scandal involving the Swiss drugs manufacturer Novartis, in the final phase of a parliamentary inquiry into the case.

A corruption prosecutor investigating the Novartis bribery case ordered on Tuesday the opening of ten bank accounts and disclosure of other assets belonging to the prominent politicians named in the case file.

Interior Minister Panos Skourletis says that the decision to sell missiles and bombs to Saudi Arabia was not a good idea as they may be used in Yemen, echoing sentiments expressed by other lawmakers of the ruling party.