Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, claims major firms organised a “campaign of panic” to put pressure on the World Health Organisation to declare a pandemic.

He believes it is “one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century” – and has called for an inquiry.

An emergency debate on the issue will be held by the Council later this month.

Dr Wodarg said: “It’s just a normal kind of flu. It does not cause a tenth of deaths caused by the classic seasonal flu.

“The great campaign of panic we have seen provided a golden opportunity for representatives from labs who knew they would hit the jackpot in the case of a pandemic being declared.

“We want to clarify everything that brought about this massive operation of disinformation. We want to know who made decisions, on the basis of what evidence, and precisely how the influence of the pharmaceutical industry came to bear on the decision-making.”

He added: “A group of people in the WHO is associated very closely with the pharmaceutical industry.”