Former health minister Andreas Loverdos has been granted a brief continuance and will testify before a relevant anti-corruption prosecutor on May 30 regarding allegations against him linked with the now marathon judicial probe into alleged kickbacks by Novartis’ Greece subsidiary.
Loverdos, a current MP and amongst the most high-profile lawmakers of the once-dominant PASOK party, has strenuously denied the allegations against him, mostly the product of recent testimony by one of four anonymous witnesses before the same prosecutor.
His Parliamentary immunity was lifted last month by a wide majority vote in Parliament, with Loverdos himself demanding its lifting to he could testify and answer any question.
Loverdos was the health minister in George Papandreou’s government from April 2011 to May 2012, succeeding Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, a current Cabinet member in the Tsipras government.
Specifically, Loverdos will be questioned over the pricing policy involving four separate drugs made and distributed by the pharmaceutical multinational in Greece. One of four anonymous witnesses claimed the ex-minister priced the drugs at rates much higher than in other countries.
Much of the opposition has charged that the lengthy and back-and-forth investigation has morphed into a “witch hunt” against the Tsipras government’s most prominent political rivals.
Out of 10 former premiers, finance ministers and health ministers “identified” by the four witnesses, only Loverdos has been issued a summons for questioning.
