Corruption at Novartis: Scandals under CEO Joe Jimenez
Novartis employees accused of bribing officials and doctors in Greece are facing a corruption investigation by the country's Department of Justice.
Over the past six years, the pharmaceutical giant has been ordered to pay fines in the sum of 1.2 billion Swiss francs. There is no end in sight.
“You have to build three lines of defence to curb bad behaviour,” Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez told the English portal “Financial News”.
"It is important to find the right employees, they have to be trained properly, and problems have to be identified and solved quickly," he said.
Mr Jimenez has been CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis for around six years. And despite certain actions that happened "at the same time”, Novartis has been in the news several times over allegations of corruption.
In the latest case the allegations centre around bribes allegedly given for a medicine license which would provide financial benefits for doctors. Greece’s finance minister, Stavros Kontonis, has announced a “quick and in-depth” investigation in Athens.
Actively looking for information
“Regarding Greece, the media reports about our business methods in Greece are well-known to us, and we are actively looking for further information," Novartis media spokesperson, Satoshi Sugimoto, said on request by barfi.ch.
"We fully cooperate with local and foreign authorities regarding their requests.”
However, this does not sound like “identifying immediately,” CEO Joe Jimenez said.
Mr Jimenez is no stranger to scandals: There was a case of faked test results in Japan and an overdose of eye drops.
A total of 22 investigations against Novartis are currently ongoing around the world. At the end of 2016, the pharmaceutical giant paid a fine of 25 million dollars to the American exchange supervisory authority (SEC) when unclear payments for Chinese doctors became public.
It was stated, however, that this was a voluntary settlement. With this clever move, Novartis managed to avoid an investigation. Things had been worse in Japan. The company had been forbidden to sell its products for three days “due to unfair business methods”.
At least at the Novartis headquarters in Basel, people are convinced that the accusations in Turkey are false. The company is accused of having enforced prescriptions of Novartis products in hospitals there. The enforcement had been allegedly controlled via a consulting firm, the Reuters news agency reported.
In responding to questions about this allegation, media spokesperson Satoshi Sugimoto replied: “Regarding your question about Turkey: Based on thorough internal and external investigations, we have reached the conclusion that all published accusations by open or anonymous sources in the case of Novartis-Turkey are groundless. We are not aware of any governmental office that is investigating such matters at the moment. This case is therefore closed for us.”
Herzog & de Meuron on the road to success in London
On the evening of the inauguration of Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, another important and prestigious project by Basel architect team Herzog & de Meuron reached another milestone: the newly-planned stadium for London’s Chelsea FC received the green light by the local authorities.
The Hammersmith and Fulham Council supports the plans, which will result in the demolition of the current Stamford Bridge Stadium with 41,600 seats, the homepage of Chelsea FC announced. The new stadium complex is expected to include 60,000 seats for visitors. A few detailed plans and permits are still pending.
An exclusive and generous access to the nearby tube station is included in the 500-million-pounds project, which will cover an entire street block in a West London quarter. If the new stadium is to go ahead, Premier League table leaders Chelsea FC will have to play their home games at a different football ground during the three-year construction project.
Multiplex cinema to be built in Stücki shopping centre
Two thirds of Basel’s Stücki shopping centre is to be cleared to make way for a giant multiplex cinema, it was announced on Thursday.
The “Basler Zeitung” reported on Thursday that around 14,000 square metres at the north end of the shopping centre will be cleared to make room for the cinema, which will have several floors. Shops including the Migros and Mediamarkt will be moved, as the cinema will use nearly half of the floor space. After the renovation work, around 10,000 square metres of space will remain for shops.
The reason for these massive changes is the difficult commercial environment and the euro rate, Stücki proprietor “Swiss Prime Site” said, which have resulted in recurring troubles for the shopping centre.
It remains questionable whether the cinemas will be free from these problems, since the Rheincenter in Weil am Rhein just across the border has its own cinema. There is free parking there (unlike at Stücki), and the ticket prices are also cheaper than in Switzerland. However, “Swiss Prime Site” is convinced that the planned new cinema will be successful. Along with the classic cinema experience, IMAX and 4DX technologies will also be available in the auditoriums.