It was early in 2008 that Polish justice authorities first asked the Netherlands for help in investigating alleged bribery at electronics giant Philips’ operations in Poland. When, after a year and a half of repeated requests, the Dutch authorities finally did something, the Polish investigation was already closed, says the NOS public broadcaster.

As a result of that investigation, Monday saw the beginning of a trial in Katowice of three Polish former employees of Philips who are accused of bribing hospital managers to purchase Philips medical equipment. Former hospital staff are also on trial. Prosecutors say about 750,000 euros changed hands in the scam. Monday’s court session was procedural: the trial is expected to begin in earnest in the autumn.

Staff at Philips medical systems office in Best are reported to have known about the bribery practices and breaches of competition rules in Poland. Polish prosecutors wanted the Dutch to investigate the connection with the Best office.

Documents
According to Dutch justice department documents held by the NOS, the Polish authorities first requested in March 2008 that Philips’ office in Best should be raided. The Netherlands turned the request down. Only after more than a year, did the Dutch Public Prosecutor’s office write to the Polish authorities. NOS reporter Gert-Jan Dennekamp:

“It said that it might be a good idea to launch a Dutch criminal investigation given the seriousness of the case and the possible role played by Philips staff in the Netherlands. A joint Dutch-Polish investigation was also proposed. Nothing came of the proposal: the documents don’t explain why. Co-operation with the Polish authorities also came to nothing.”

Finally, in October 2009, the Dutch authorities did raid Philips office in Best, confiscating two boxes of documents, e-mails and CD-ROMs. However, the evidence came too late for the Polish investigation.

Really slow
Why did it all take so long despite the Dutch authorities themselves pointing out the “seriousness” of the case? Mr Dennekamp:

“The reason put forward is that the Netherlands wanted to find out for itself just how serious the case was and that this took time, but it remains really slow. Another factor was that the Polish investigators wanted witness evidence from Philips, whereas the Dutch authorities viewed the company more as a possible suspect in the case.”

Criminal profits
Whistleblower Marian Kulig has told NOS that “all Philips’ profits in Poland were the result of crime”. He says he himself handed over more than one million euros in bribes and that part of the money came from Philips’ Hamburg office.

This was the reason the Polish authorities also asked Germany for help. However, unlike the Dutch inquiry, the resulting German investigations and interviews were swift and were successfully completed within one year.

(mw)