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| - The Greek parliament has approved a criminal investigation into a former leftist minister over allegations that he pressured justice officials in a massive bribery scandal involving Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis. A total of 177 conservative and centre-left MPs in the 300-seat parliament voted late Wednesday in favour of the prosecution of Dimitris Papangelopoulos, who was junior justice minister from 2015 to 2019, on eight charges including abuse of power and breach of duty. The justice system must now determine whether the case should go before a special court. The vote follows a parliamentary investigation that was opened after the conservative government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis came to power last year, succeeding that of leftist premier Alexis Tsipras. Tsipras' lawmakers walked out during the vote, as did those of three other smaller parties. As well as politicians, some 100 doctors and about 30 high-ranking civil servants were allegedly caught up in the scandal. The case sparked a political storm in Greece after protected witnesses initially testified that a number of senior politicians were allegedly involved in helping Novartis build a commanding position in the Greek health market. All those named including Greek central banker Yannis Stournaras, former prime minister Antonis Samaras and former EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos denied wrongdoing, and some have sued the witnesses for defamation. Avramopoulos and former health minister Adonis Georgiadis, now development minister, remain under investigation. In parliament on Wednesday, Georgiadis called the former leftist government "the worst gang to have ever governed the country". Tsipras and his party have accused the government of seeking to muzzle the investigation to cover up the alleged involvement of several conservative party politicians including Samaras, Avramopoulos and Georgiadis. Tsipras told parliament that Mitsotakis had a "vindictive obsession" towards his political opponents. Last month the Greek subsidiary of Novartis admitted paying kickbacks between 2012 and 2015 to employees of public hospitals to boost sales of its products, according to US federal prosecutors. Novartis also admitted to bribing doctors in 2009 and 2010 to prescribe the company's medications as part of an epidemiological study as a means of bulking up sales. The alleged result was a commanding position for Novartis in the Greek healthcare market, allowing it to inflate its prices even as Greece was in the midst of a serious financial crisis. Greek officials have estimated that the scheme cost the state some three billion euros ($3.4 billion) in inflated prices. hec/jph/gd
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