Tsipras complains about exclusion of SYRIZA MPs from Novartis panel

In a letter to Parliament Speaker Constantinos Tasoulas, former prime minister and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras complained about the exemption of leftist MPs Pavlos Polakis and Dimitris Tzanakopoulos from a parliamentary committee probing alleged meddling in the Novartis investigation.

Describing the exclusion from the panel of the two former ministers as "illegal," Tsipras called on Tasoulas to revoke the decision which, he claimed, upset "parliamentary order." 

The committee tasked with probing whether former alternate justice minister Dimitris Papangelopoulos sought to influence the Novartis probe decided to eject Tzanakopoulos and Polakis due to their status as witnesses in the investigation which, the panel deemed, constituted a potential conflict of interests.