Shipping Minister Kouroublis admits name is in FBI document accompanying Novartis case file

Shipping Minister Panagiotis Kouroublis admitted on Friday that his name is mentioned in the FBI document accompanying the Novartis case file though did not indicate that he has any involvement in alleged illicit practices.

"I am the P.K. referred to in the FBI document," he told ANT1 television channel, adding that the same document refers to other Greek politicians.

Kouroublis added that he was first informed of the affair in 2014 when Marios Salmas, former health minister, told him that American officials were probing the Swiss drug firm's practices.

"He told me there was a problem in the pharmaceutical industry and that the Americans were looking into it," he said. "He didn't talk to me about specific people. He told me they were probing Novartis because it was doctoring competition in Greece."

"I believe there is political responsibility," he said, noting that the investigation would uncover the truth in time.