Andreas Loverdos

Parliament's Ethics Committee will be advising lawmakers to lift the immunity from prosecution of former health minister Andreas Loverdos with regards to the ongoing investigation into the handling of the Novartis bribery case.

Parliament is on Wednesday expected to formally announce that it has received the case file of the inquiry into the handling of the Novartis case from the Supreme Court.

Former socialist minister Andreas Loverdos on Monday filed a lawsuit against Supreme Court corruption prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki and two more judicial officials over their handling of the Novartis bribery case.

With the shelving Thursday of a legal suit against him involving Swiss drugmaker Novartis, Greek central bank governor Yannis Stournaras said that a "brazen procedure of slander and character assassination" had officially come to an end "after a 20-month delay."

Greece's top corruption prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki on Thursday shelved a legal suit lodged against central bank governor Yannis Stournaras over bribery claims involving Swiss drugmaker Novartis.

Transparency is a great thing - so great that every democratic country should have it. In that sense, a recent opinion piece in Ta Nea newspaper by Movement for Change (KINAL) MP and former health minister Andreas Loverdos in which he asks for the next Parliament to examine "SYRIZA's attempt to establish a state separate from the democracy of transparency" makes sense.

Defending himself before a corruption prosecutor Thursday as a suspect in the alleged bribery scandal involving Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis, former Socialist health minister Andreas Loverdos described the case as a "political frame-up" and "a scourge for the country."

Former socialist health minister Andreas Loverdos, who has been implicated in an alleged bribery scandal involving Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis, filed lawsuits on Monday against all the witnesses - including the protected - who testified against him in the ongoing probe.

Former socialist health minister Andreas Loverdos on Friday was given an extension to prepare his defense before a corruption prosecutor in connection with the alleged bribery scandal involving the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis.

Former health minister Andreas Loverdos will appear before an Athens prosecutor on Friday over the alleged bribery scandal involving Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis and 10 senior Greek politicians.
Prosecutors are investigating whether there is evidence of passive bribery involving the former minister during his term in office from April 2011 to May 2012.