Konstantinos Frouzis

The Greek Justice system has removed the “masks” from protected witnesses “Maximos Sarafis” and “Aikaterini Kelesi,” almost six years after the Novartis case emerged under the SYRIZA-ANEL government as one of Greece’s largest scandals, which has since proven to be a major political fabrication.

Four former executives of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis and a former politician were cleared on Monday of bribery and direct complicity in the offense, as part of a probe into allegations that doctors and public officials had accepted kickbacks from the company in a period spanning 2006 to 2015.

Konstantinos Frouzis, former vice president and general manager of Novartis Geece, claimed on Thursday that he was pressured by corruption prosecutors to testify against politicians.

The case concerns the alleged bribery scandal involving the Swiss pharmaceutical company and Greek politicians and doctors.

In a third day of testimony before a parliamentary committee probing possible political interference in the Novartis investigation, a key witness on Friday suggested that he and three protected witnesses were used as part of an attempt to frame the 10 politicians named in the original probe, Kathimerini understands.

Konstantinos Frouzis, former vice president and general manager of Novartis, claimed on Thursday that he was targeted so that politicians would be implicated in the alleged bribery scandal involving the Swiss pharmaceutical company.

A key witness in the inquiry regarding an alleged bribery scandal involving Novartis yesterday claimed to have met with top officials of leftist SYRIZA before the party came to power in 2015 during his second deposition before the parliamentary committee probing possible political interference in the investigation.

A key witness in the inquiry regarding an alleged bribery scandal involving Novartis claimed to have met with top ministers of main opposition SYRIZA in his second testimony before the parliamentary committee probing possible political interference in the investigation.

Efforts are under way to convene the plenary of the Athens Court of Appeals so that an investigation into the politically charged Novartis case can be referred to an investigating judge at the highest level, Kathimerini understands.

A parliamentary committee probing possible political interference in the Novartis investigation started examining a key witness on Tuesday after two SYRIZA MPs who have been barred from the committee, and disrupted it last week, stayed away. 

Testimony by Deputy Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos, one of 10 Greek officials implicated (but not incriminated) in the original Novartis investigation, points to political interference in the judicial handling of the probe, reports said Friday.