Antonis Samaras

European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos was to face a prosecutor on Monday to elaborate on his claim that a judicial probe into the alleged bribery of Greek politicians by Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis, which implicated him and another nine Greek politcians, had been fabricated along with the testimonies of witnesses. 

Greek politicians whose names have been implicated in the Novartis bribery investigation without any evidence linking them to any wrongdoing are to be summoned for testimony next week by prosecutors probing the case, it emerged on Wednesday.

The shelving Thursday of a legal suit against him involving Swiss drugmaker Novartis, officially ended a "brazen procedure of slander and character assassination... after a 20-month delay," Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras said.

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.

Former conservative premier Antonis Samaras said Tuesday that a decision by the corruption prosecutor's office to shelve the case against him concerning his alleged involvement in the Novartis case signals the beginning of an investigation into the "real, serious and dark scandal" surrounding the inquiry.

Greek corruption prosecutors on Tuesday shelved a part of the investigation into the alleged bribery case involving Swiss drugmaker Novartis which concerns former conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras, after no evidence was found to support the accusations.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is this week to meet with his two conservative predecessors, Antonis Samaras and Costas Karamanlis.

The meeting with Samaras is to be held in Mitsotakis' office in Parliament at 6 p.m. on Monday and that with Karamanlis is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

The electoral spread between the two top parties is near record level, especially If the opinion polls - which are reminiscent of older elections when two-party predominance was so great that the country was divided into blue (ND) and green (Pasok) cafes - are confirmed.

Back in 1974, New Democracy won the general election by a 20 percentage point spread over Pasok.

The government official that supposedly influenced the investigation of alleged bribes paid by Novartis to politicians is Alternate Justice Minister Dimitris Papangelopoulos, former conservative premier Antonis Samaras claimed in an interview with the Parapolitika newspaper that was published on Saturday.