10 Greek former ministers involved in bribery probe

ATHENS: Two former Greek prime ministers and eight former ministers have been implicated in an alleged corruption scandal involving Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, a judicial source said Monday.

Greek anti-corruption prosecutors have asked parliament to hand over any files relating to the alleged bribery in light of the suspected involvement of the former ministers, who were in office between 2006 and 2015 — before the current government came to power — the source said. The former ministers were not named. Magistrates also launched a corruption prosecution against a manager at Novartis’s Greek branch, who was banned from leaving the country, the source said. In April last year, Greece’s parliament voted to open probe into alleged health scandals, with the ruling government saying past socialist and conservative administrations for decades allowed health contractors to overcharge hospitals for equipment, supplies and medicine in return for kickbacks. Greece’s justice minister Stavros Kontonis said at the time that Novartis had likely bribed “thousands” of doctors and civil servants to promote its products and continued to sell “overpriced” drugs.