Marios Salmas

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.

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.

The Novartis affair, which was once described by the government as the biggest scandal since the establishment of the Greek state, appears to be fizzling out as the judiciary closed the investigation due to lack of evidence for four politicians and sent only the case of former health minister Andreas Loverdos (Pasok) to parliament with a request that his parliamentary immunity be lifted so that

A corruption prosecutor investigating damages to Greece's main national healthcare provider EOPYY through the overpricing of certain medical procedures has asked Parliament to lift the immunity of former alternate health minister Marios Salmas, so that he can be called in for questioning.