(AWP) The Greek State is seeking compensation of €214 million from Novartis (November 80.60 + 3.03%). It is related to a suspected corruption scandal in which the Swiss pharmaceutical giant was said to have sold its medicines at inflated prices, the Greek health minister announced on Friday.
Thanos Blevris said in a statement that the prosecution referred to the “moral damage caused to the Greek state as a result of actions that the company has already admitted to in the United States in connection with bribing doctors.”
Greece reserves the right to make further claims. “All (available) sanctions will be imposed on Novartis for its illegal practices,” the minister added.
The drugmaker is suspected of bribing Greek officials and doctors between 2006 and 2015 in order to be able to sell its products at high prices even when cheaper alternatives were available.
In the United States, the company agreed to pay about 336 million euros to stop the prosecution. At the time, the US Department of Justice announced that a Greek subsidiary of Novartis had admitted paying bribes to workers in public hospitals between 2021 and 2015 to boost sales.
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