Eli Lilly agrees to pay $29.4 Million to settle bribery case

Eli Lilly agrees to pay $29.4 Million to settle bribery caseEli Lilly & Co has agreed to pay a sum of $29.4 million in fines to settle the allegations made by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission into the cases of bribe given by the employees of its units in different countries.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has alleged that staff members of its subsidiaries gave cash and gifts to officials in China, Brazil, Russia and Poland in order to secure business deals in those countries worth millions of dollars.

The Indianapolis-based drug maker has given its consent to pay $29.4 million to settle the allegation but did not confirm the allegations in the settlement agreement filed today in federal court in Washington. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has said that the company started violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as early as in 1994.

Kara Novaco Brockmeyer, head of the SEC's foreign bribery unit, said in a statement that, "Eli Lilly and its subsidiaries possessed a `check the box' mentality when it came to third-party due diligence. Companies can't simply rely on paper-thin assurances by employees, distributors, or customers. They need to look at the surrounding circumstances of any payment to adequately assess whether it could wind up in a government official's pocket."