The special Prosecutor’s office of Slovenia accused 15 people, including eight doctors, and the company of supplying medical equipment to hospitals of corruption. Due to illegal actions, the country’s Treasury lost 1.18 million euros. It turned out that the suppliers of medical equipment offered bribes in exchange for the health care institutions to buy their products.
Prosecutors said that their investigation affects the period from 2013, the territory of the investigation-five cities of Slovenia, including the capital Ljubljana. The investigation revealed that the suppliers of medical equipment offered bribes to doctors and other hospital officials. The Prosecutor’s office said that these criminal acts led to the theft of state funds for 1.18 million euros, according to channelnewsasia.
The size of the “rollback” included in the price of medical devices, its amount was from 5 to 20% (from 10 thousand to 101 thousand euros). The funds went to accounts specially opened for this purpose in Austria, Germany and Croatia.
10 hospital staff were charged with receiving gifts related to the purchase of medical equipment and medicine. Two of them were charged with money laundering, and one with forgery or destruction of business documents, to hide evidence three more people were charged with taking a bribe, and two others with money laundering.
The state of the national health system was a major challenge in the run-up to the June elections due to long queues for medical examinations and operations, as well as lack of money and staff.
