PhillyInc

Agence France Presss and the London Daily Telegraph are reporting that GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C., AstraZeneca P.L.C. and Eli Lilly and Co. are being investigated over "bribes allegedly paid to Saddam Hussein's deposed Iraqi regime." (Thanks to Pharmalot's Ed Silverman for spotting this on Sunday).

The reports say the companies have confirmed that they have been asked to hand over documents by Britain's Serious Fraud Office, which AFP says is investigating "possible breaches of the United Nations' oil-for-food sanctions program."

AFP quotes a GSK spokesman in London: "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."

It quotes an AstraZeneca spokeswoman in London: "AstraZeneca has received a request from the SFO for documents as part of its review of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq. The company will be providing the documentation."

Note that the 2005 report detailing problems in the U.N. oil-for-food program concluded the Iraqi regime had demanded kickbacks from many foreign companies, and that bribes actually were paid in connection with "humanitarian" contracts for 2,253 companies, although only a few companies were named in the public report. Neither GSK nor AstraZeneca was among them.

- Thomas Ginsberg