Ex Novartis executive says he was pressured to implicate politicians
Konstantinos Frouzis, former vice president and general manager of Novartis Geece, claimed on Thursday that he was pressured by corruption prosecutors to testify against politicians.
The case concerns the alleged bribery scandal involving the Swiss pharmaceutical company and Greek politicians and doctors.
Testifying before Supreme Court deputy prosecutor Evangelos Zaharis on Thursday, Frouzis described two unofficial meetings with corruption prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki, during which he claimed that she asked him to implicate politicians named in the probe.
“The procedure and the testimony is secret, I have dutifully respected this from the beginning. I am certain that the truth is already shining,” he said as he exited the supreme Court.
Frouzis, a key witness in the probe, had made the same accusations when he appeared before a special parliamentary committee probing possible political interference in the case in November 2019.
Deputy prosecutor Ioannis Angelis, who has also made claims of political interference in the case, is also scheduled to testify before Zaharis on Friday, after he said he had new evidence.
