Bribery Special: Pfizer Paying Docs, Teva Paying Governments, Cartels Paying the Military
We’ll do this roundup style:
Pfizer Inc. agreed Tuesday to pay $60 million to settle charges alleging that some of its foreign subsidiaries bribed doctors and health-care officials in order to gain regulatory approval for the company’s drugs and boost sales in those countries.
“Pfizer subsidiaries in several countries had bribery so entwined in their sales culture that they offered points and bonus programs to improperly reward foreign officials who proved to be their best customers,” said Kara Brockmeyer, who heads the SEC unit that enforces the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it a crime to bribe foreign government officials.
Teva:
Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries , the world’s biggest generic-drug maker, is being investigated by the U.S. securities regulator over the company’s compliance with a U.S. law that prohibits bribery of foreign officials.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week, Teva said it had received a subpoena dated July 9 to produce documents in connection with its business practices in Latin America.
Four senior Mexican army officers are facing charges from state prosecutors for alleged ties to a drug cartel. It’s the most high-profile military corruption case in the past 15 years.
Gen. Roberto Dawe Gonzalez and three retired officers, Generals Tomas Angeles Dauahare and Ricardo Escorcia and Lt. Col. Silvio Hernandez Soto, were arrested in May in connection with an investigation of the now-defunct Beltran Leyva Cartel and have been held in custody until their hearing Tuesday, when the Mexican Attorney General’s Office formally filed charges of “organized crime to further drug-trafficking” against them.
Pfizer, Teva, and the Beltranes; three peas in a pod.
