FCPA Scorecard Blog
Six Individuals Charged in South Korea with Bribery Following Novartis SEC Settlement
According to an August 9, 2016 news report, six former and current executives of Novartis Korea have been indicted by prosecutors in Seoul for alleged corruption involving payments to physicians intended to boost sales. The news report stated that the officials are alleged to have made payments to the physicians totaling $2.3 million from 2011 to present. Several doctors and publishers of medical journals involved in the payments were also indicted according to the news report.
In March 2016, a different division of the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company entered into a settlement with the SEC to resolve alleged violations of the FCPA’s book and records and internal controls provisions related to activities in China. Prior FCPA Scorecard coverage of the Novartis AG settlement can be found here. In the past few years, several other pharmaceutical companies have also faced corruption allegations regarding allegedly corrupt payments to employees of Chinese state-owned hospitals. Prior FCPA Scorecard coverage of those investigations can be found here.