Former Novartis executives cleared of bribery; 15 doctors charged

Four former executives of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis and a former politician were cleared on Monday of bribery and direct complicity in the offense, as part of a probe into allegations that doctors and public officials had accepted kickbacks from the company in a period spanning 2006 to 2015.

Seven years after the investigation started, the Council of Misdemeanor Courts issued a judicial decision stating that Konstantinos Frouzis, the former vice president of Novartis Greece, and Nikos Maniadakis, a former Health Ministry adviser, alongside three executives from Novartis' parent company, have been acquitted of the charges. The decision determined that no evidence was discovered showing that the ten politicians investigated for passive bribery were involved.

The ten politicians implicated in the case were former New Democracy premier Antonis Samaras, former...