Top judicial officials in Greece are reportedly on the brink of lifting the “protected witness” status for two out of the three individuals whose testimony – over several months – to the former anti-corruption prosecutor heading up the Novartis kickbacks investigation implicated 10 political figures – all rivals of the SYRIZA coalition government in power at the time (2017-2018).
Τhe 10 political figures included two former prime ministers, Antonis Samaras and caretaker premier Panagiotis Pikrammenos, current BoG Gov. Yannis Stournaras and a handful of ex ministers serving from 2006 to 2015, mostly politicians who served as health ministers in governments prior to January 2015.
The trio of “protected witnesses” allegedly lobbed allegations that multinational drug manufacturer Novartis’ subsidiary in Greece paid out bribes and kickbacks to the aforementioned officeholders. After years of investigation – and repeated leaks of the trio’s otherwise confidential testimony to pro-government media outlets – nary a charge or indictment was ever presented in a courtroom.
Judicial sources on Thursday cited a recommendation by prosecutor Eleni Papadopoulou, who serves in the financial crimes prosecutor’s office, to lift the protected and by extension “anonymous” status of two of the three witnesses in the now shelved Novartis investigation case. If the protected status is lifted then the pair’s immunity from prosecution and litigation, i.e. lawsuits for defamation, also falls by the wayside.
Two names were widely circulated on social media on Thursday, the same names previous published by some websites and periodicals.
According to the same reports, the recommendation was approved by the chief prosecutor in the specific office, Panagiota Fakou, meaning that when the decision is officially announced the 10 political figures will be able to seek recourse to the courts over the parts of the testimony that concerned them.
As obliged by law, Touloupaki had sent the testimony she collected to Parliament in 2018, as the prospective offenses involved previous and current officeholders.
The two “protected witnesses” for which the status will reportedly be revoked are identified with the pseudonyms “Aikaterini Kelesi” and “Maximos Sarafis”, with numerous reports in the local press identifying them as two former high-ranking Novartis Greece employees.
According to the same sources, the possibility of some of the “10” seeking recourse against the soon-to-be “exposed” witnesses is certain.
The original third “protected witness” has already identified himself and given statements against what he charged was a “judicial conspiracy” in the ultimately fruitless Novartis investigation by Touloupaki and her subordinate prosecutors.
By contrast, a US Justice Department settlement with Novartis in June 2020 resulted in a massive fine against the Swiss multinational of 345 million USD to resolve a “Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” case, as the US federal law is called.
In a statement issued at the time, the US Attorney’s office in New Jersey noted, among others, that “…The resolutions arise out of a Novartis Greece scheme to bribe employees of state-owned and state-controlled hospitals and clinics in Greece and to falsely record improper payments relating to the corrupt scheme and similar conduct…”
However, although the high-profile focus of the costly and time-consuming judicial investigation in Greece almost exclusively revolved around the claims against the 10 political figures, no evidence was ever sought or collected against officials at state-owned and controlled hospitals and clinics.
The “Novartis scandal”, according to the then SYRIZA coalition government, or “Novartis conspiracy”, according to most of the opposition, sparked an intense political firestorm in the country before the July 2019 general election.
