The testimony phase, headed by a special supreme court prosecutor, in an explosive case of alleged judicial misconduct by a one-time alternate justice minister under the previous SYRIZA government, Dimitris Papaggelopoulos, will reportedly commence in the coming period, and with the first witnesses being former PM Antonis Samaras and FM Evangelos Venizelos.
Both of the latter political leaders were named as suspects in a Novartis kickbacks investigation that has now more-or-less been discredited, given that the probes against seven of the 10 politicians implicated by three anonymous witnesses were shelved by the controversial anti-corruption prosecutor, Eleni Touloupaki, who has overseen the case for three years.
As the kickbacks investigation nears an end, only one politician, ex-health minister Andreas Loverdos, has ever been summoned for question in a capacity of a suspect by Touloupaki – herself now under scrutiny by her peers in the judicial system.
Loverdos, a current Parliament deputy with the KINAL party, will reportedly follow Samaras and Venizelos in giving testimony the in judicial conspiracy case, where the main culprit, according to media reports and opposing politicians, is Papaggelopoulos.
