Parl’t to decide next Friday whether to lift Loverdos’ immunity
Greek MPs are next Friday to decide whether to lift the immunity of former health minister Andreas Loverdos, an MP with Movement for Change (formerly PASOK), who has been implicated in an alleged bribery scandal involving Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis.
In the same session, MPs will be called upon to decide whether to lift the immunity of another former health minister, Marios Salmas, a conservative MP, who prosecutors have also suggested is implicated in the affair.
Separately, Parliament will be asked to decide whether current Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis should see his immunity lifted after conservative New Democracy vice president Adonis Georgiadis sued him for slander while also considering another legal suit by the journalist Yiannis Kourtakis against former defense minister Panos Kammenos, who leads the right-wing Independent Greeks (ANEL).
The vote is to take place next week as Loverdos has requested leave from the House until Wednesday. Parliament's ethics committee is to convene on Thursday with the debate and vote expected on Friday.
