AstraZeneca fined £4m for backhanders to doctors ...

It set up bogus conferences, supplied fake travel invoices and handed gifts to hospitals

ASTRAZENECA has been forced to fork out £4.2m to settle a bribery probe over allegations staff used gifts and cash to persuade doctors to buy its drugs.

The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant is accused of setting up bogus conferences, organising false travel documents and creating fake tax receipts to ‘reward or influence’ healthcare providers.

The US markets watchdog claims staff at the firm made ‘ numerous improper payments’ to doctors in China and russia as incentives to buy or prescribe AstraZeneca medicines.

The bribery allegations say staff in China – where AstraZeneca employs more than 45,000 people – even created fake bank accounts in doctors’ names.

All of the payments were falsely recorded as legitimate business expenses, according to the US Securities and exchange Commission ( SEC), which conducted the investigation.

The SEC said AstraZeneca ‘fabricated’ speaker engagements and used ‘collusive’ travel vendors, who submitted fake or inflated invoices to generate cash that could be funnelled to healthcare providers.

In some cases the payments included gifts to individual doctors, and in others to hospitals or medical departments.

The investigation, which began in 2010, found Chinese employees went as far as paying local officials to reduce or avoid fines against the company.

In russia, the SEC said employees made charts to record the names of healthcare providers, their level of influence and the ‘manner in which they could be motivated’ to buy AstraZeneca products.

It said management ‘directed or condoned’ the practices.

Cambridge-based AstraZeneca yesterday said it had co-operated with the SEC and added the US Department of Justice had closed a related probe.

But it will be a blow to the reputation of the firm, led by chief executive Pascal Soriot. The allegations relate to before the 57year-old Frenchman took over in 2012. The SEC confirmed AstraZeneca’s co-operation and said it had taken measures to clamp down on corruption, including dismissing staff involved.

AstraZeneca – whose blockbuster drugs include antacid Nexium and heart drug Crestor – has also enhanced its anti-corruption training and audits. The firm, which made £18.6bn last year, was ordered to pay £3.3m for profits gained as a result of the conduct, prejudgement interest of £626,000 and a civil money penalty of £286,000.

An AstraZeneca spokesman said: ‘The described conduct occurred between 2005 and 2010, and as noted in the SEC’s Order, we began enhancing our compliance programme prior to the start of the investigation.

‘Strong ethics and acting with integrity are central to AstraZeneca’s code of conduct, which is reinforced through ongoing training and monitoring.’

Shares in AstraZeneca fell 1.9pc, or 93p to 4909p.