Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis said the Novartis case file, involving allegations of bribery against Greek officials, will be sent to parliament on Tuesday, following a decision by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
“I has stated a year ago that the Novartis scandal would shock Greek society from an economic and ethical point of view much more than the Siemens scandal,” the minister said after his meeting with Tsipras where he briefed him on the ongoing investigation.
Kontonis said the scandal is “huge” because, in a period of economic woes, there were pharmaceutical companies that used illegal means and overpriced drugs. “This is why pharmaceutical expenditure shot up at twice the EU spending,? he said.
The minister said Tsipras also asked him to brief political parties on the issue.
Alternate Justice Minister Dimitris Papangelopoulos said on his side that “this is the biggest scandal since the founding of the Greek state.”