UN inquiry into pharmaceutical kickbacks given to Saddam regime
Pharmaceutical companies collectively paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to the toppled Saddam regime, the Independent Inquiry Committee into the UN Iraq Oil for Food programme scandal has claimed.
Pharmaceutical companies collectively paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to the toppled Saddam regime, the Independent Inquiry Committee into the UN Iraq Oil for Food programme scandal has claimed.
There were more than 250 medicine suppliers, many from the Middle East, but also a significant number from Europe, named in a report as having paid Iraq to secure humanitarian supply contracts.
Pharmaceutical industry kickbacks mentioned included two British-based sections of Glaxo Wellcome: GlaxoSmithkline Walls House paying US$834,390 in kickbacks when securing US$91m business selling 'drugs, medicine, purinethol'; and Glaxo Wellcome Export Ltd, (also of France), paying US$257,596 for US$2.8m worth of medicine contracts.
The companies did not comment to committee chairman Paul Volcker's investigators. Also Smithkline Beecham International supposedly paid US$835,935 for a medicines contract worth US$9.1m.
Elsewhere in Europe, three of a number of other companies mentioned included Denmark's Novo Nordisk, said to have paid US$1.4m in securing a US$16.2m contract for supplying drugs, medicine and insulin. Also F.Hoffman La Roche, of Switzerland, allegedly paid US$296,225 when securing a contract worth US$3.4m covering a range of medicines. Another was Belgium's Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, who paid US$348,295 when securing US$3.7m pharmaceutical orders, although it denies making illicit payments breaking the programme's rules.
The committee, however, claimed generally payments 'were disguised by various subterfuges' not disclosed 'by Iraq or the participating contractors', although some companies claim they were unaware of the payments.