Two former protected witnesses who provided damning testimony against political figures during the Novartis trial were on Monday found guilty of making false accusations and giving false testimony. Under the code names 'Maximos Sarafis' and 'Aikaterini Kelesi', respectively, defendants Filistoras Destebasidis and Maria Maraggeli had asserted that political figures were bribed by the pharmaceutical company.

The One-member Misdemeanours Court that tried the pair handed down a sentence of 25 months imprisonment for Destebasidis and 33 months in prison for Maraggeli, suspended for three years pending appeal. It recognised their previously law-abiding conduct as a mitigating circumstance but rejected that of non-base motives.

Earlier, the court had found them guilty of all charges relating to making false accusations and giving false testimony against politicians such as Antonis Samaras, Evangelos Venizelos, Adonis Georgiadis, Andreas Loverdos, Yannis Stournaras and other non-political figures. They were acquitted of additional charges due to reasonable doubt.