ND lawmaker denies intervention claims

Conservative New Democracy MP Marios Salmas, one of 10 Greek state officials implicated in the original Novartis investigation, over the weekend denied claims that he sought to intervene in a subsequent judicial probe into the affair.

Haralambos Sevastidis, a senior first instance court judge and the press representative of Greece's union of prosecutors, lodged a complaint on Saturday with the Supreme Court over an alleged intervention by Salmas who, he claimed, urged him to speed up a judicial investigation into the affair.

The union issued a statement condemning the alleged interference, which it said occurred in a phone call on Friday. "It should be absolutely clear that interventions in [the work of] judicial officials are not only illegal but also ineffective," it said.

In response, Salmas spoke of a "baffling misunderstanding." He said he phoned...