Top Greek politicians facing probe over pharma scandal

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - In a heated debate set to last more than 14 hours, Greek lawmakers were to decide on whether to launch an investigation into 10 senior politicians, including two former prime ministers, over allegations they were involved in a pharmaceutical bribery scandal.

The allegations against Swiss drugmaker Novartis and include current central bank governor Yannis Stournaras and Dimitris Avramopoulos, a European commissioner

The debate will culminate in a vote early Thursday, on whether to set up a committee to investigate each of the 10. Under Greek law, parliament must first investigate allegations against lawmakers before they can be stripped of immunity and prosecuted by judicial authorities.

Officials in the government of left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras have described the alleged bribery scandal as the worst in modern Greek history.

All of the politicians implicated angrily denied the allegations, accusing the government of engineering a politically motivated campaign against them.

"I'm not here to provide answers regarding this despicable libel but to denounce these ridiculous allegations," former conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras said.

The allegations against the politicians stem from testimonies made by protected, anonymous witnesses.

Speaking during the debate, central bank governor Stournaras said secret witness testimonies implicating himself and his wife, who runs a communications and consultancy company specializing in the health sector, were lies, and called for the parliamentary investigative committee to be set up to look into all allegations.

Allegations against the politicians include bribery, breach of duty, and possibly money laundering. But it was unclear what the scope of the investigation would be, given that the statute of limitations regarding politicians is linked to terms of government.

With government and opposition parties all backing the investigation - either in support of the probe or to clear the names of their colleagues - the proposal looked certain to pass.

Former caretaker prime minister Panagiotis Pikramenos, his voice at times breaking as he addressed the lawmakers, noted he had only been in office for 35 days at a time of political and economic turmoil in Greece.

"And today, after six years, I find myself before you to face a baseless accusation," he said, describing the accusations against him as "lies and unacceptable slander."

Novartis says it is cooperating with Greek authorities.

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Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed. Follow Becatoros at http://www.twitter.com/ElenaBec