Second witness in Novartis-Papangelopoulos parliamentary probe fails to appear before committee

The second of two protected witnesses who had alleged that politicians had taken kickbacks from pharmaceutical giant Novartis did not keep a scheduled appointment with the parliamentary committee probing the handling of the Novartis scandal.

A woman who was given the name Ekaterini Kelesi as a protected witness failed to show up today to testify before the committee which has the powers of an investigating magistrate in probing possible criminal acts in the Novartis case.

The committee is investigating whether former alternate justice minister Dimitris Papangelopoulos committed crimes related to the Novartis probe. He has been accused by top prosecutors of raw interventions in their work and of pressuring them to file charges against former ND and Pasok ministers and two PMs.

Witness sees violation of Greek, EU law

Kelesi had made clear in advance that she did not wish to testify before the committee.

In a letter to the committee she cited an EU directive - pertaining to the protection of the confidentiality of whistleblowers' identity - issued in October, 2019, and the joint ministerial decision establishing the protected witness framework in Greece, which she argued makes no provision for the examination of a protected witness, with his or her identity revealed, by members of a parliamentary committee, even if it has prosecutorial authority.

She forwarded a copy of her letter to Corruption Prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki, Deputy Supreme Court Prosecutor Lambros Sofoulakis, and the European Commissioner on Human Rights.

Hearsay and conjecture

Yesterday the protected witness who was given the pseudonym Maximos Sarafis also failed to appear before the committee.

Sarafis had said...