Panagiotis Pikrammenos

Straight on the heels of the judiciary's decision to close his case file regarding possible involvement in the Novartis scandal for lack of any evidence, former caretaker PM Panagiotis Pikrammenos has said that the Novartis scandal in Greece was set up by politicians who attempted to exploit real corruption in the pharmaceuticals industry in order to harm their political opponents.

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.

The affair that a SYRIZA minister had described as "the biggest scandal since the establishment of the Greek state" is turning into a political fiasco.

The case was closed for lack of evidence for four of the ten politicians who were targeted and probed. The same is expected to happen for another five.

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

The United States was a "true mediator" between Athens and its international creditors at the peak of the Greek crisis and helped prevent the country's ouster from the eurozone on several occasions, Kathimerini's Washington correspondent, Katerina Sokou, said during a panel discussion on the subject of "The US Role in the Greek Debt Crisis."

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.

The Greek debt crisis officially began in 2009 and, after failed dead end policies and lack of real change, it is going strong. Here are the seven prime minister that have lead Greece over the last eight years.