Swiss drug maker Novartis is in trouble as its offices in Athens were raided by corruption prosecutors a few days ago. The raid was part of an ongoing investigation conducted over allegations of bribery.
According to sources, a thorough search focused on gathering electronic data and documents in line with the probe was requested by the prosecutors in mid-December.
The Supreme Court ordered the investigation after Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis filed with media reports on bribery allegations. It was claimed in the reports that Novartis bribed public officials and doctors to increase company sales and prescriptions.
U.S. authorities have been contacted by Greek authorities, and the prosecution requested that any data related to the Greek part of the scandal be shared by the U.S. authorities.
For the record, the U.S. authorities initially launched an investigation together with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into the drug maker two years back.
As per reports, the U.S. authorities received hundreds of documents by two Novartis executives, all of which proved payments to private doctors and doctors serving the public healthcare system (over 4,000 in total). All of these payments were made to lure them into promoting the company’s products.
