Marios Salmas

A 27-year-old man who made death threats against an MP on the internet is facing charges of inciting criminal and violent acts after police unmasked him with the help of information provided by Google.

The secretary of New Democracy's political committee, Maria Syrengela, announced the expulsion of MP Marios Salmas from the ruling party on Monday, just hours after his removal from New Democracy's parliamentary group.

Marios Salmas has been expelled from New Democracy after being ousted from the party’s parliamentary group earlier today.

“By decision of Maria Syreggela, the Secretary of the New Democracy Political Committee, Mr. Marios Salmas is expelled from the party,” announced ND headquarters in Piraeus.

The announcement regarding Salmas’ expulsion from ND’s Parliamentary Group stated:

The Ethics Committee of the New Democracy (ND) party unanimously confirmed the expulsion of Marios Salmas, MP for Aetolia-Acarnania, who had been referred to the committee by Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

MP Marios Salmas has been expelled from the ruling New Democracy parliamentary group following a decision by the party's ethics committee on Monday. Early reports indicate that Salmas does not plan to relinquish his parliamentary seat and intends to continue serving as an independent MP.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has demanded the expulsion of New Democracy MP Marios Salmas, a frequent critic of his government, from the ruling party's parliamentary group.

Conservative New Democracy MP Marios Salmas, one of 10 Greek state officials implicated in the original Novartis investigation, over the weekend denied claims that he sought to intervene in a subsequent judicial probe into the affair.

Marios Salmas, a former deputy health minister for New Democracy, has been given until June 3 to prepare for questioning by corruption prosecutors over a possible breach of faith while he was in office in 2015-16.

Parliament on Friday voted to lift the immunity of former Health Minister Andreas Loverdos,  the only politician currently implicated in the alleged bribery scandal  involving Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis and prominent politicians.
The cases against other politicians have been shelved due to a lack of evidence.

For over one year the Novartis affair has fueled constant political tensions and it will be a central issue in the forthcoming general election, which is to be held by October at latest.

To Vima on Sunday reported yesterday that Corruption Prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki (photo) has told the Judicial Council that she expects the case to be wrapped up within the next six months.