Ex-minister Pappas to be summoned over Novartis case
One day after Greek-Israeli businessman Sabby Mionis accused former alternate justice minister Dimitris Papangelopoulos, the publisher of Dimokratia newspaper Ioannis Filippakis and two journalists of blackmail in 2016, the parliamentary committee probing the handling of the Novartis case by the former SYRIZA administration on Thursday summoned ex-digital policy minister Nikos Pappas to testify, Kathimerini understands.
The blackmail allegedly took place after Dimokratia implicated Mionis in the so-called Lagarde list of depositors with savings in a Swish branch of HSBC. Pappas is said to have been present during a meeting where Papangelopoulos allegedly asked Mionis for a bribe of 350,000 euros to close the case.
The committee’s decision Thursday to summon Pappas caused the reaction of SYRIZA representatives. The latter called for ex-prime minister Antonis Samaras, his close aid Stavros Papastavrou, journalist Gianna Papadakou as well as Filipakis to testify before the committee instead. Their request was turned down.
Meanwhile, corruption prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki, who was scheduled to testify Thursday, did not show up. In a letter to the committee, Touloupaki said she had received the summons from Parliament’s preliminary inquiry committee with a delay.
