KENILWORTH, NJ (June 14, 2004) – Schering-Plough Corporation, a science-based health care company, has reached an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) to settle issues related to compliance of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by a Schering-Plough subsidiary in Poland.
In November 2003, the SEC issued a formal order with Schering-Plough to investigate whether Polish subsidiaries of several pharmaceutical companies were complying with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which forbids corrupt payments to foreign government officials and requires strict adherence to proper books and records and internal accounting control standards. These documents are related to charitable contributions that the subsidiary itself discontinued in March 2002, according to Schering-Plough.
Schering-Plough has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $500,000.
