Ministry reacts to alleged falsification of document in Novartis case file

The Foreign Ministry has denied any responsibility in the alleged falsification of a document which was translated by its translation service before it was in 2017 included in the case file of the Novartis bribery scandal.

“The Translation Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was abolished by Law 4781/21, did not have the competence to review the content of translations, as is well-known,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

“The translation work was carried out by collaborating private translators, who were solely responsible for the content of the translation,” it said.

An Athens Prosecutor on Friday ordered a preliminary investigation into the allegations.