1. THE 2020 “OSCARS” FOR PUBLIC FIGURES
Homo-Naturalis.gr, 29 December 2020
“…An ‘Oscar’ to the citizen whose name we are not revealing (yet) for obvious reasons, and who entrusted us with explosive documentary evidence of the bribery of numerous individuals—not only politicians—by the pharmaceutical company Novartis, evidence that demonstrates the magnitude of this scandal. We honor his integrity, selflessness, and courage.”
2. “OSCARS AND GOLDEN RASPBERRIES” FOR 2021 FOR PUBLIC FIGURES
Homo-Naturalis.gr, 3 January 2022
“…An ‘Oscar’ to Public Prosecutor Eleni Michalopoulou: ‘He not only laundered Novartis’ “black” money through intermediary advertising companies, but was also the person who subsequently bribed political and other public figures, as well as doctors.’ These are the prosecutor’s exact words, clearly reflecting the political dimension of the scandal, in her recommendation to the competent judicial council, in the conclusion of which she proposes that former ‘Mr. Novartis’ Konstantinos Frouzis and two additional doctors be referred to the Three-Member Court of Appeal for Felonies to stand trial for felony offenses related to the Novartis scandal.”
Novartis: The Peculiarity and Distinctive Nature of the Scandal
One might fairly characterize us here on the site as obsessed, because the Novartis scandal not only occupies the lion’s share of our coverage, but our references to this specific issue are countless and disproportionate compared with our coverage of other major matters of public interest.
Of course, the systemic Greek state, under its successive governments, has committed many crimes over the years—crimes that are unforgivable for a modern state governed by the rule of law. One example is the pushback operations against migrants, which have resulted, and continue to result, in the deaths of thousands of outcasts and “wretched of the earth” in the waters of the Mediterranean and the Aegean, including children. Another is the unspeakable Tempi disaster, with dozens of fatalities, which we attribute to the Mitsotakis administration’s diversion of EU funds intended for railway safety, funds that allegedly ended up in the pockets of the “blue locust” that has kept the government in power for seven consecutive years through its vote, as well as through what we describe as “violence and electoral fraud.”
An independent prosecutor could compile an entire catalogue of such offenses. Certainly not a Greek prosecutor, however, since one of the executive branch’s primary constitutional powers is the appointment of prosecutors to the country’s highest court—officials whose role, in our view, is precisely to whitewash the crimes of the governmental authorities who appointed them to those positions.
The Novartis scandal, however, has another peculiarity. It is not, as many describe it, simply the largest scandal in Greece. If that were so, what should we call the country’s first bankruptcy under “nephew” Kostas Karamanlis and his “court” in 2008–2009?
The distinctive feature of the conduct of the acquitted defendants connected with the pharmaceutical industry lies elsewhere: they did not keep a low profile while enjoying the lavish gifts of millions of euros allegedly delivered by Frouzis in wheeled suitcases. Instead of “keeping quiet,” as guilty parties—especially so-called “white-collar” offenders—usually do, Georgiadis, Samaras, Loverdos, Avramopoulos, and the rest of the sordid company jointly and meticulously applied the disgraceful recipe of the Nazi regime, in the spirit of Goebbels’ doctrine and practice: from perpetrators, instigators, and offenders, they were not merely declared innocent, complete with the official seal of the Mitsotakis-era establishment justice system, but elevated themselves into SCAPEGOAT VICTIMS.
Indeed, they went even further, making the most outrageous and provocative demand of all: that the judges punish those who claimed to have seen with their own eyes the torrent of euros flowing into their offices.
And they succeeded. On what supposedly impartial judicial reasoning, one may ask, enough to give an honest and decent citizen a stroke? Because, according to the court, the witnesses did not possess VIDEO RECORDINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, OR OTHER EVIDENCE OF THE TRANSFER OF BRIBE MONEY THAT WAS ALLEGEDLY TAKING PLACE “UNDER THE TABLE.”
A groundbreaking piece of Greek judicial reasoning, unique in the world. The Greek people express it more bluntly: “Adding insult to injury.”