US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt categorically denied, at a meeting with New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his office in parliament yesterday, that the FBI is probing Greek political divs in the context of its investigation of the pharmaceuticals giant Novartis, according to a report in Ta Nea.

New Democracy said that it was the US Ambassador that requested the meeting, and that he first broached the subject of Novartis during the conversation.

After that was announced, the government made known that the PM’s diplomatic advisor contacted Pyatt, and quoted the US envoy as saying, “It was never mentioned whether Greek politicians appear or do not appear in the FBI’s investigation of the Novartis scandal”.

Essentially, the clarification draws the distinction between whether Greek politicians are the target of the FBI investigation – which they are not – and whether their names pop up in the files of the probe.

“The FBI investigation is focused on crimes that violate American law. There is no FBI investigation pertaining to Greek politicians,” Pyatt said, according to a New Democracy press release, which stressed that the quotation was approved by the staffs of the ND leader and the Embassy, and drafted in both Greek and English.