Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Greek Prosecutor Touloupaki

Greece’s Top Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Faces Removal

The job of Greece’s top anti-corruption prosecutor, Eleni Touloupaki, has faced an uphill battle to hold on to her position following a change in government in July of 2019, which brought a political party to power that includes several officials she was actively investigating.
Its most recent legislative maneuver may lead to her ousting.

A new bill presented to parliament on Wednesday by the Ministry of Justice attempts to abolish her office entirely, and replace it with the Financial Crime Department. Critics believe the new department will abandon a probe into whether high-ranking politicians may have received bribes from Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical firm that is one of the largest in the world.

Novartis reached a US$347 million settlement last summer with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – which criminalizes foreign bribery by companies operating on U.S. soil – in which it acknowledged making illegal payments to Greek healthcare providers and officials.

But the settlement did not explicitly address what Touloupaki’s office has, in cooperation with U.S. authorities, continued to investigate since 2017: whether several high-ranking politicians, including two former Greek prime ministers, were involved in the scandal as well.

The alleged bribery allowed Novartis to boost prescription sales at inflated prices, and gain a more dominant position in the Greek healthcare market, despite the fact that Greece was, at the time, facing a severe financial crisis. It has been estimated that the scheme cost the country roughly three billion euros ($3.4 billion).

Antonis Samaras, who served as Greece’s prime minister from 2012 to 2015, was one of several New Democracy party officials named in the investigation, and was quick to aggressively dismiss the allegations.

“Slander is the weapon of cowards, I tell them that they do not touch me. And they can be certain that the slanderers and those behind them will be held accountable to justice,” said Samaras in February 2018, when his party was still the opposition.

After the left-wing populist Syriza party of former prime minister Alexis Tsipras lost power in 2019, New Democracy, led by current prime minister Kyriacos Mitsotakis, began mounting numerous attempts to undermine Touloupaki’s investigation.

Last summer, prosecutors filed criminal charges against Touloupaki, including one felony charge of “abuse of power.”

The Council for Criminal Procedure of Athens denied her request to have the criminal procedure brought against her dismissed, a ruling Adonis Georgiadis, Greece’s minister for development and investment and vice chairman of the ruling New Democracy party, announced on Twitter days before it was officially announced.

Touloupaki subsequently decided to appeal her case to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that her country’s courts have already presumed her guilt, and that she has therefore not been granted a fair trial.

“The tables have been turned,” Vasilis Chirdaris, a lawyer representing Touloupaki, told OCCRP. “The auditor has become the subject of investigation, and the ones being investigated have become the auditors,” he said.

In addition to her legal struggles, Touloupaki told OCCRP in late August that her home had been burgled. Several documents and computer hard drives were stolen, although nothing else in her home was disturbed.

Days after the incident, Vangelis Triantis, an investigative reporter at Documentonews.gr, said in a posting on Facebook that he too had fallen victim to a burglary after the publication he works for ran stories about the FBI’s investigation into Novartis in January and March 2017. The burglars, he said, stole only laptops from his apartment.

Touloupaki said she was “absolutely convinced” that this was an attempt to silence her investigation into the Novartis bribery scandal, and said she has now become Greece’s number one target, even going so far as to say that she feared for her life.

Wednesday’s proposed bill could be the final nail in the coffin of her years-long investigation, according to her lawyer Chirdaris, who said that in addition to undermining his client, could also set a bad precedent for a country that has long been plagued by corruption.

By merging the anti-corruption prosecutor's office with that of financial crime to form the Financial Crime Department, Cheirdakis explained that the government has resorted to “doing something drastic” that is aimed at removing Touloupaki from assuming any post that concerns government corruption, but it also removes other specialized staff that is equipped to handle other cases of this nature.

“A country like Greece needs a special anti-corruption department,” Cheirdakis said, explaining that political corruption is not the same as the types of theft, embezzlement, or fraud that are typically investigated by the financial crime department that is set to absorb Toulopaki’s anti-corruption office.

Minister Georgiadis welcomed the introduction of the bill, saying on Twitter, “Touloupaki is finished, and the financial (crime) and corruption prosecutor's offices are consolidated.”

Formerly a spokesperson for the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), a far-right populist party, Georgiadis was also under investigation by Touloupaki’s office for his role in the Novartis scandal while serving as Minister of Health.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×