Heavy! U.S. investigates Siemens, Philips, GE bribery in China

TENCENT SECURITIES, June 10 (Reuters) - The U.SSecurities and Exchange Commission is investigating Siemens, GE and Philips, Reuters reportedReuters reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating three of the world's largest medical device companies for alleged bribery in ChinaReuters, citing two people familiar with the matter, said the SEC investigation involved Siemens, Philips and GE Healthcare, which used local agents to bribe government officials and hospital officials to buy medical equipmentthe official findings have not yet been made public and the SEC declined to commentSiemens, Philips and GE Healthcare have all denied any wrongdoing and said they were not aware of the SEC investigation, Reuters reportedThe health care commission and the FDA did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for commentUnder the U.SForeign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), enacted in 1977, it is illegal for U.Scitizens and U.Scompanies to pay foreign officials to win businessafter 1998, the Act was extended through territorial jurisdiction to foreign companies or natural persons, i.e., companies with business addresses in the United States and companies listed in the United States were regulatedat the same time, under U.Ssecurities trading laws, public companies are accountable to investors and cannot use bribery of government officials to improve performance and mislead investorsMay 17 (UPI) -- The Fbi is investigatinggiants Johnson and Johnson, Siemens, General Electric and Philips for allegedly paying kickbacks while selling medical equipment in Brazil, two Brazilian investigators told Reuters on May 17(Reuters) - the Brazilian government is also investigating allegations that foreign companies paid bribes locally, and Brazilian regulators suspect that medical device companies have paid bribes to government officials over the past two decades to obtain public health projects in some countries, according to Brazilian authorities say more than 20 companies may be members of a "cartel" that pays bribes and sells medical equipment such as MRI cameras and prosthetics to the government at high prices now, foreign companies are the latest target of a corruption investigation by the Brazilian government Over the past five years, prosecutors have uncovered widespread corruption in state institutions and private enterprises case of bribery of medical devices in Brazil, four companies responded "We are committed to establishing integrity, compliance and legality in Brazil and all other countries," Boston-based GE said in an emailed statement 2 Munich-based Siemens said in an e-mailed statement that it was "not aware of any FBI investigation into the company's cartel activities in Brazil." 3 Amsterdam-based Philips confirmed in an email that it was under investigation in Brazil Philips acknowledged in its 2018 annual report that it had "also received an investigation into the matter from u.S authorities." "It is not uncommon for the Us authorities to show interest in these issues, and it is too early to draw conclusions," Philips, , said in an emailed response to Reuters "
GEHealthcare, Philips and Siemens, known as GPS, have a large market share in the domestic supply of large medical devices Its bribery cases have occurred many times 2016, a regional manager of Siemens Guangxi paid bribes to Chen Fengkun, the former president of the First People's Hospital in Qinzhou City, Guangxi, with more than 6 million yuan "Legal Evening News" reporter combed Siemens bribery cases found that in 2014-2015 alone, the case, involving Siemens bribery of 19 cases, spread to 12 provincial administrative regions, of which 16 for Siemens agents to pay bribes, the remaining 3 for Siemens staff direct bribery early 2017, the former deputy director of the health bureau of Anhui Province, the head of the people's hospital Li Guoqing, the final judgment of the bribery case was made public, GE medical sales staff appeared in the early briber list in Anhui Province, Fuyang City People's Hospital, Puyang City Cancer Hospital and other medical institutions OF MRI equipment bribery case, another company Siemens local sales manager was also involved at the end of 2017, Chen Hongli, former president of Qingyun County People's Hospital in Shandong Province, was successful in winning the bid for the purchase and bribery of nuclear magnetic resonance equipment, in which Siemens Medical competed with GE and Philips to bid, and Siemens medical agents paid 900,000 yuan to bribe the hospital director.