Lambros Sofoulakis

The second of two protected witnesses who had alleged that politicians had taken kickbacks from pharmaceutical giant Novartis did not keep a scheduled appointment with the parliamentary committee probing the handling of the Novartis scandal.

The Greek prosecutors leading the investigation into the handling of the Novartis probe have written to authorities in the US, where the activities of the Swiss pharmaceutical firm have also been examined, with questions about the protected witnesses whose testimony led to accusations against Greek politicians, Kathimerini understands.

Two prosecutors who are investigating the handling of a controversial judicial probe that pointed to the alleged bribery of Greek politicians by Swiss pharmaceuticals firm Novartis on Wednesday heard from one of the 10 politicians.

Former alternate minister for justice Dimitris Papangelopoulos vehemently denied accusations by a former chief prosecutor for corruption that he had used his influence to intervene in her work on a number of cases, including the alleged Novartis bribery scandal.

With a special parliamentary committee to be set up in the coming days to investigate the possible mishandling of the Novartis bribery probe, a judicial investigation into claims of political interventions is to continue Monday with the testimony of Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras.

Greece's Supreme Court has turned down a request by deputy prosecutor Ioannis Angelis for a fellow deputy prosecutor and a former prosecutor to be taken off a probe concerning the alleged bribery scandal involving Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis.

Deputy Supreme Court Prosecutor Dimitrios Dasoulas, who currently serves as chief prosecutor following the retirement of Xeni Dimitriou, has ordered an investigation into claims by fellow deputy prosecutor Ioannis Angelis that there were political interventions in the Novartis inquiry and into criticism by politicians implicated in the probe of its judicial handling.