Bribery

Just two months after receiving a 15-year prison sentence for his role in a bribery scandal concerning German giant Siemens, a former senior executive of the company's Greek branch was released from jail citing health reasons.

Greece needs to take tougher stance against bribery offenses involving state officials, the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report published on Wednesday.

Katica Janeva, currently under house arrest awaiting trial on charges of receiving bribes, received more than 150,000 euros in bonuses and expenses on top of her still-secret official salary, according to data dug up by BIRN from a database of budget expenditures between 2010 and 2017.

Fourteen years after a judicial inquiry was first launched, the trial into the 1997 Siemens bribery scandal concluded on Tuesday with an Athens court finding 22 of the original 64 defendants guilty of a range of crimes, including money laundering. The sentences are expected to be announced on Friday.

Konstantinos Frouzis, former vice president and general manager of Novartis, claimed on Thursday that he was targeted so that politicians would be implicated in the alleged bribery scandal involving the Swiss pharmaceutical company.

What happens when political parties have diverging views on the rules that govern the operation of the country's Parliament? And how should these differences be resolved, if not by the majority principle?

A special parliamentary committee that will be inquiring into the merit of claims of political interference in the Novartis bribery case is set to start choosing witnesses on Tuesday afternoon.

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.

Former alternate justice minister Dimitris Papangelopoulos hit back on Thursday over allegations that he attempted to influence an ongoing inquiry into the alleged bribery scandal involving Swiss drugs manufacturer Novartis to incriminate political rivals.

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.