Drug firms face Iraq bribes probe

12 April 2012

Pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca have been asked to hand over documents to the Serious Fraud Office as part of its investigation into bribes allegedly paid to Saddam Hussein's deposed Iraqi regime.

The SFO is investigating possible breaches of the oil-for-food sanctions in place against the Middle Eastern country.

The investigation was triggered by a damning United Nations report which listed more than 2,200 companies worldwide that may have been linked to bribery or "kickbacks" to Iraq.

GSK and AstraZeneca have denied any wrongdoing and said they were co-operating fully with the SFO.

The programme was supposed to allow the Iraqi government to sell limited amounts of oil to buy foreign food and medicines.

But Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, said in his 2005 report for the UN that it had become corrupt as Saddam Hussein's regime demanded payments from foreign companies in return for lucrative contracts.

The investigation, which could take years and is expected to cost around £22 million, has been predicted to become one of the biggest undertaken by the SFO.

A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline confirmed the SFO had made a formal request for documents.

He said: "GSK does not believe that its employees or its agents in Iraq knowingly engaged in wrongdoing regarding the oil-for-food programme. In fact GSK went to considerable lengths to co-operate with UK government authorities responsible for the UK administration of the programme and to impose anti-corruption measures when dealing with intermediaries in Iraq at a time when the environment was extremely volatile and difficult."

An AstraZeneca spokeswoman said: "AstraZeneca has received a request from the Serious Fraud Office for documents as part of its review of the oil for food programme in Iraq. The company will be providing the documentation."

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