Two Witnesses Names in Novartis Alleged Bribery Case Stay Secret

Politics

Two Witnesses Names in Novartis Alleged Bribery Case Stay Secret

September 8, 2021

(Photo by Eurokinissi/ Yorgos Kontarinis)

NOVARTIS

ATHENS – Although the case has fallen apart without evidence, the identity of two people who claimed a number of officials who are rivals of the former ruling Radical Left SYRIZA took bribes from the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis will not be revealed.

While names leaked out, the Financial Crimes Prosecutors Office rebuffed requests from some of the named targets who said they were smeared with proof to make the alleged witnesses names be made public, said Kathimerini.

They alleged that 10 current and former officials, including former prime minister Antonis Samaras and Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras, took bribes to help the company get a bigger share of the market in Greece, which officials from the firm denied.

But the decision means the the identities of the two called Ekaterini Kelessi and Maximos Sarafis to hide their real names will protect them for two more years although they said they had only overheard something about bribes but had no evidence to give beyond their claims critics called ludicrous.

Samaras and Stournaras, as well as former finance minister and one-time PASOK Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos, current Development and Investment Minister Adonis Georgiadis and other targets said the names should come out because the claims were false and defamatory.

A Supreme Court prosecutor agreed with them but was overruled as the discredited case continues to drag on. SYRIZA's former alternate justice minister

Dimitris Papangelopoulos, has been indicted for conspiring to frame party rivals.

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