ATHENS – A Greek prosecutor recommended no charges be brought against a fellow prosecutor over his role in in an investigation into10 Greek politicians alleged to have taken bribes from the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis that fell apart.

Ioannis Angelis was accused of interfering with the probe in which only rivals of the then-ruling Radical Left SYRIZA were accused by secret whistleblowers – who admitted they didn't have any evidence – had taken money to help the company's business but almost all were quickly cleared.

Angelis took a trip to Vienna in 2018 during which he was accused of refusing to cooperate with American authorities for the investigation of the purported scandal – with the main claim that 10 politicians supposedly took bribes from the Swiss drugmaker so far unsubstantiated, said Kathimerini.

The recommendation by prosecutor Giorgos Economou said that Angelis was acting in his official capacity as a supervisor in the case and that he didn't refuse to accept evidence from US officials against one of the politicians.

Instead, said Economou, Angelis had said that any cooperation on such matters would have to go through the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation and that there were no grounds to pursue him now.