Near’s revealing testimony to the Special Court

Ioanna Mandrou

Regarding the political manipulations, which followed the sending to the Parliament of the file with the ten political figures in the case of Novartis, but also about the substance of the investigations into the scandal with the pharmaceutical expenditure, the former Minister of Justice Stavros Kontonis was reported in detail, testifying before the Special Court.

The former Minister of Justice, referred to the political background, when the file with the ten politicians arrived at the Parliament, stating that “my mind went dark”, while adding that he had serious reservations about the report of the ten politicians and also about the reliability of the protected witnesses .

Regarding Dimitris Papagelopoulos, with whom he met at the Ministry of Justice, he stressed that “he has no evidence that Dimitris Papagelopoulos was the person that prosecutor Eleni Raikou meant when she denounced interventions after her resignation from the position of head of the Prosecutor’s Office Corruption”.

President: Did you understand that Mr. Papagelopoulos was being photographed?

St. Kontonis: My mind went to the big pharmaceutical companies. I said that it is possible for the financial oligarchy to pressure prosecutors, that’s what I was thinking then, now I’m thinking differently, you won’t find them useful.

While waiting to go to the Parliament, Eleni Raikou sent me a message and wrote to me. You don’t know what I’ve been through for so many months. That freaked me out. Mrs. Raikou told the Parliament why the opposition MPs asked me why she resigned, instead of sending a message, to name which state and economic factors are interfering with her work.

President: Referring to the paracenters of power, Mrs. Raikou, did she mean Papagelopoulos?

St. Kontonis: I couldn’t imagine that he meant Papagelopoulos. Besides, I don’t believe that any member of the government at the time had the aim of a cover-up, you know that I left a long time ago and my relations are not good with the specific political area… In no way can I think of a cover-up.

The political background

The former minister also referred in detail to the management of the case with the ten politicians for Novartis, arguing that from the beginning he had formed the opinion that for the Novartis scandal, the doctors were largely responsible for the illegal prescriptions that caused, as he said, “bleeding in the Greek economy”.

Mr. Kontonis added that in addition to the doctors, he thought that some politician with the billing could have been involved in the scandal, but when he saw the file with the ten politicians “his mind darkened”. And he added that the reference to persons such as acting Prime Minister Pan. Bitterly, the finance ministers “made an impression on him”, as did the reports of the protected witnesses.

He specifically referred to the testimony of the protected witness for the former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, saying “what was said about the rolling suitcase, with money in the Maximos Mansion, is not said even in preventive measures, where simple speculation is sufficient”. “Furthermore, he underlined, that what is reported about the ten political figures “exceeds all imagination”.

St. Kontonis: “It was obvious that the Novartis scandal came from the doctors, what’s going on in the tiles. Of course, it could not be ruled out that a politician was involved in the pricing of the medicines. However, what happened to the ten politicians was beyond imagination.

Prosecutor: Why do you say that?

St. Kontonis: Because they included everyone, the caretaker prime minister, the finance minister and so on.

When the envelope arrived, my mind was clouded when I saw these political figures. I also had reservations about the witnesses. I suggested that the file be sent to justice, as it was done.

She had to do her job

Regarding the behavior of the prosecutor Eleni Raikou who resigned after denouncing Dimitris Papagelopoulos, former minister Stavros Kontonis pointed out that “she should have stayed in her position and did her job”, while stating that “it is not for the judges to issue press releases” while he added that “if he had informed him of her resignation, he could, and would have, addressed the then prime minister and expressed the certainty “that he would take his measures”.

To this end, he also referred to a similar action he had taken, informing the then prime minister, when the then President of the Supreme Court, Vasiliki Thanos, insisted that her term be extended for three years.

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