The trial of the former protected witnesses in the Novartis case, Maria Marangelis and Filistor Destampasidis, began today at the Athens Single-Member Plenary Court the trial of the former protected witnesses in the Novartis case.

The latter, at the beginning of the proceedings, told the court that the statements he had given as “Maximos Sarafis”to corruption prosecutors in the Novartis case were true. He even asked for the trial to be broadcast on television, radio, internet and any media in general.

Specifically in his statement, Philistor Destambasidis said:

“I am on trial today for two alleged crimes (false testimony, false statement), which concern my contribution to the investigation of the Novartis scandal, and in particular the statements I gave as a public interest witness to the competent prosecutors Touloupakis, Ntzouras and Manolis regarding the illegal practices of the company and the bribery of some Greek politicians and other government officials. I obviously deny the accusations and declare once again that these statements are true. In any case, I note from now on that, as my counsel will explain, the criminal acts in question (which I did NOT commit) are already time-barred, due to the drafting of the writ of summons after five years from their alleged commission.

It is of particular legal significance that for the crimes in question the procedure of the then applicable Article 45 B para. 3 CCP, it was considered that my criminal prosecution was not necessary in the public interest and the competent public prosecutor ordered the final abstention from prosecution for the disputed acts.

My counsel will explain why, in accordance with Article 7 of the ECHR, the application of Article 45 B CPC in the present case and not the newer Article 47 CPC leads to my acquittal.

We all know that the Novartis wrongdoings in question were first denounced by protected witnesses in the US and that those denunciations were the basis for the criminal settlement of Novartis, which chose to pay $311 million to America to avoid prosecution for its illegal acts in Greece. This American dossier is obviously of interest to the present trial.

It is also of particular importance that the circumstances of the taking of the statements in question by the prosecutors and their contents were examined in detail by the highest Greek court, that of Article 86 of the Constitution, in the context of an investigation of a relevant felony charge against the prosecutors mentioned.

This Court in 2022 unanimously acquitted the prosecutors and held that I am a credible public interest witness.

My counsel will develop the relevant precedent, which also binds your Court.

If today’s trial is commenced, my counsel will explain how, in any event, the injustice of the crimes in question is lifted under the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on the protection of public interest witnesses under Article 10 ECHR, read in conjunction with Articles 5A and 14 of the Constitution, and how the recent 2019 Directive on the protection of persons reporting violations of EU law affects the present trial and – again – lifts the injustice.

First, however, Your Honour must determine whether it was lawful to withdraw my designation as a public interest witness, whether it was lawful to withdraw the definite abstention and prosecution and whether it was lawful to prosecute.
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The relevant three objections to the invalidity of the subpoena, which impede the progress of this trial, will be developed below by counsel.

I want to point out another legal problem in this trial:

Because there is no evidence in this trial (no witnesses examined, no documents, no apology at the brief preliminary examination), the conduct of this trial requires the subpoenaing of the necessary witnesses and the production of the necessary documents, in accordance with the requests that my counsel will make.

Madam Prosecutor,

Let me express my satisfaction, because almost nine years after the first investigation of the Novartis scandal by the US authorities on the basis of the testimony of the witnesses protected there, the trial of this scandal, which, as Novartis itself admitted in the US, also involves the bribery by it of Greek politicians and other government officials, is beginning in a Greek court.

Because, finally, there is obviously an essential public interest in this trial, I request that it be allowed to be broadcast on television, radio, internet and any media in general.

It will be recalled that the accused in the case, apart from Filistor Destampasidis, is also Maria Marangelis, i.e. the former protected witness “Ekaterini Kelesi”. Even the former protected witness Nikos Maniadakis has dual status, as he is a defendant in one case and a plaintiff in another.

The defendants are on trial for the offences of false testimony and false statement following lawsuits filed by Adonis Georgiadis, Dimitris Avramopoulos, Yannis Stournaras, Andreas Lovedros, Marios Salmas, Antonis Samaras, Evangelos Venizelos, among others.

Today in court, the defendants’ defense filed objections in support of the prosecution’s case, which were rejected. Further objections were also submitted on the statute of limitations for the offences, on which the prosecutor’s and the court’s proposal is awaited.