Mistakes and opportunities

Despite attempts at “creative” interpretation, there is only one conclusion to be drawn from the decision published earlier this week by the American judicial and competition authorities regarding Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis: that Greece has failed in the important task of uncovering a scandal of corrupt business practices because its government at the time attempted to exploit it for its own political purposes, to vilify its rivals. All that Greece has is a pile of dust from the political upheaval and empty coffers. This is not the first time such an opportunity has gone to waste either. The same happened with the Siemens scandal. The upside is that there’s still time to use the American ruling to Greece’s advantage.