Patients and relatives acquitted of paying bribes to Thessaloniki cardiologist
A Thessaloniki criminal court has acquitted 17 former patients and their relatives on charges of paying bribes to a cardiologist.
The case against them dates to 2020, when a cardiologist at the AHEPA hospital in the city was arrested after he demanded 5,000 in bribes to operate on a 72-year-old patient. The patient’s son refused to pay the bribe and notified the police, who proceeded to arrest the doctor.
A subsequent police investigation into the doctor’s activities found that many more people had paid bribes to the doctor.
In their testimonies, some defendants said that they had no choice but to pay a bribe to the doctor as he had requested it. If they failed to pay, they feared they would not be operated on and would die.
Others said they paid the doctor bribes in gratitude for what he had done.
The court acquitted some defendants on the grounds that they were in fear of their lives and others because they did not know that such “gifts” were illegal. [ERT]
