The FBI is investigating corporate giants Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, General El...
RIO DE JANEIRO - The FBI is investigating corporate giants Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, General Electric and Philips for allegedly paying kickbacks as part of a scheme involving medical equipment sales in Brazil, two Brazilian investigators have told Reuters.
Brazilian authorities say more than 20 companies may have been part of a “cartel” that paid bribes and charged the government inflated prices for medical gear such as magnetic resonance imaging machines and prosthetics. The four multinationals, with a combined market capitalization of nearly $600 billion at Thursday’s market close, are the largest foreign enterprises to be investigated in an unprecedented anti-corruption push in Brazil in recent years.
The sprawling investigations by prosecutors and federal police, including the famed “Car Wash” dragnet centered on Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras, have toppled business and political leaders across Latin America. “We are constantly sharing information with the FBI on this case. They ask for documents and we send them, and they are assisting our investigation in return,” Ferrari said. In addition, Ferrari said, “we’ve received a lot of material from the Department of Justice and from the SEC.
Siemens, which is based in Munich, said in an emailed statement that the firm “is not aware of any FBI investigation of the company related to cartel activity in Brazil.” It said its policy is always to cooperate with law enforcement investigations when they occur. New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson said in an emailed response that the Department of Justice and the SEC “have made preliminary inquiries to the company” in regard to a raid by Brazilian federal police on its Sao Paulo offices last year, and that the firm is cooperating.Ferrari, the Brazilian prosecutor, said the medical equipment investigation was in its early stages.
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