If one were to follow the line of reasoning expressed some time ago by the alternate justice minister, the Novartis scandal is not merely the largest scandal since the founding of the Greek state, but since the creation of the world.
The evidentiary material in the hands of the investigating magistrate indicates that it was not only New Democracy and Pasok cadres that maintained contacts with Novartis, but Syriza as well.
Yet one should not make the mistake of adopting this specious, and in the final analysis dangerous, line of reasoning. One should not burn the entire political system at the stake as being corrupt and bought off, or allow lingering suspicions that all politicians have been bribed, as generations of populists have maintained.
Instead, one must analyse events logically. Firstly, the names that appear on notes do not demonstrate that the meetings referred to actually occurred. Secondly, even if they did take place, it does not mean that the politicians who were present were bribed, or that in general some impropriety is involved.
This is all the more true when one considers that the then vice-president of Novartis was simultaneously president of the association of pharmaceutical companies. He was at the same time, in other words, an institutional player in the market.
What one must certainly do is to separate the wheat from the chaff. The guilty parties, if there are such, must be punished.
That cannot be done through selective leaks, targeting opponents, and mudslinging.
Let those who attempted to politically exploit the Novartis case, and their mouthpieces, who willingly led the dance of allegedly major revelations, remember this well.
