It is too soon to draw firm conclusions regarding the Novartis case and this will have to wait until the contents of the case file are known in detail, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said on Tuesday.

"The message we are sending is that we will handle this issue with due gravity. We will, of course, exhaust our political rigour, but on no account launch a witch hunt or set up peoples' courts. This is a very serious matter that we will handle in the appropriate way," Tzanakopoulos said in statements to Alpha radio station.

He added that the case is an "international" scandal, while noting that the only information he has comes from the relevant media articles.

Tzanakopoulos again accused main opposition New Democracy of being in a "panic".