ZAGREB (AFP) - US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer said it was investigating its operations in Croatia after a former employee claimed it had improperly paid doctors to secure drug orders.
Pfizer said it was probing "certain potentially improper payments made in connection with foreign sales activities in Croatia" and had informed the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"At the moment we cannot provide more details," company spokesman Oliver Stohlmann said in a statement to AFP.
"We have disclosed what we know to the respective authorities in the US and Croatia and will continue to cooperate with them and share relevant findings."
Several Croatian newspapers on Thursday quoted former Pfizer director for Croatia, Zdenko Bucan, as saying that he had blown the whistle on the payments and had been sacked for speaking out.
"While reviewing documents I found suspicious payments which prove that over seven to eight years Pfizer was paying significant amounts, on a regular monthly basis, to two top Croatian doctors," Bucan told the Novi List daily.
"Later the number of doctors who received money increased," he said, without naming the doctors or specifying the amounts allegedly paid to them.
"I can only guess what they were paid for, but one of the possibilities is that they were awarded for prescribing Pharmacia's drugs," Bucan told the Jutarnji List daily.
Pfizer acquired Pharmacia in 2003.
Pfizer confirmed changes to its Croatian management team last week but refused to discuss "internal personnel decisions".
11/11/2004 - 16:17 GMT - AFP