Fresenius to Pay $231M to Resolve Foreign Bribery Charges
Germany-based Fresenius Medical Care on Friday agreed to pay about $231 million to resolve investigations by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because of Fresenius’s participation in various bribery schemes to win business in 13 countries.Between 2007 and 2016, Fresenius, which describes itself as the world’s leading provider of products and services for people with chronic kidney failure, admitted to paying bribes to publicly-employed health and/or government officials to obtain or retain business in multiple countries, including Angola, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Spain, Turkey and countries in West Africa.
In Spain, between 2008 and 2011, Fresenius paid a publicly employed doctor more than €81,000 ($91,000) without a consulting agreement or contract. The doctor, the head of nephrology at a Spanish state-owned hospital, awarded Fresenius a tender in 2011.
“In Morocco, Fresenius paid bribes through a sham commission to a Moroccan state official for the purpose of obtaining contracts to develop kidney dialysis centers at Moroccan state-owned military hospitals,” the DOJ said.
In Turkey, the DOJ said Fresenius entered into joint ventures with publicly-employed doctors who directed business from their public employer to Fresenius clinics in Turkey.
Fresenius also bribed publicly-employed health officials and government-employed doctors in West African countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Niger, Gabon, Chad and Senegal.
DOJ found the misconduct across the 13 countries yielded profits of more than $140 million.
And although Fresenius did voluntarily self-disclose the misconduct in April 2012, the DOJ said the company did not offer timely responses to certain requests and sometimes did not provide full responses to requests. “Moreover, the company has not yet had the opportunity to test the effectiveness of its compliance enhancements,” DOJ said.