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Deputy Supreme Court prosecutor implicates gov’t official in Novartis affair

Deputy Supreme Court prosecutor implicates gov’t official in Novartis affair

Deputy Supreme Court Prosecutor Ioannis Angelis has implicated a government official of influencing an investigation into an alleged bribery scandal involving the Swiss drugs manufacturer Novartis, in a statement issued Wednesday.

The official, who is said to be active in the judicial sector, is identified only as “Rasputin.”

In the same statement, Angelis called on Supreme Court Prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou, Justice Minister Michalis Kalogirou and the corruption prosecutors to testify in the case.

He alleged that the probe into the potential implication of political officials into the Novartis affair has been marred by a series of irregularities, while making allegations of a campaign to victimize political rivals.

On Tuesday, just a few days before her scheduled retirement, Dimitriou ordered a probe into the handling of the investigation. Kalogirou meanwhile ordered a separate disciplinary investigation into Angelis' claims. 

Dimitriou assigned her probe to deputy prosecutor Dimitris Dasoulas who is to investigate Angelis’ claims against top corruption prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki and other prosecutors working the Novartis case.

Dasoulas is also to probe Touloupaki's own accusations against Angelis concerning a range of alleged disciplinary and criminal offenses including, for instance, that he took one of her memory sticks. 

Angelis quit in January, claiming that his colleagues and superiors had mishandled the Novartis probe and that charges against the Greek politicians implicated in the probe had essentially been fabricated.

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