Foreign Ministry requests police investigation of hospital equipment sale to Costa Rica

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The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has made a request to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate suspicions of bribery in connection with the supply of hospital equipment to Costa Rica by the Finnish company Instrumentarium.
      In 2002 Instrumentarium supplied the Central American country with hospital equipment. The company paid its local representative, Fischel, a fee of EUR 6.5 million. Part of the fee is believed to have been used for paying bribes.
      Millions of euros in interest-subsidised loans were provided by the Finnish state for the project.
     
The bribery scandal has made news in Costa Rica for more than a year. Political leaders and top civil servants have been implicated, as well as the country’s former President.
      There have been calls in the local media for Finnish action on the affair, and even a joint investigation.
      Juhani Toivonen, deputy head of the Development Policy Section of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, says that the claims of bribery have not been investigated by Finnish officials because there has been no indication that the Finnish company had been involved in the bribery. General Electric Healthcare, of which Instrumentarium is now a part, has repeatedly denied knowing anything about the bribery.
      New information of Finnish involvement came when Minna Knuus, a television journalist for the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), travelled to Costa Rica and got hold of the papers linked with the investigation.
      In a report aired on Tuesday evening, Fischel’s CEO Walter Reiche travelled to Finland to sign a mediation contract with Instrumentarium.
      During discussions held in a sauna, the mediation fee demanded by Fischel was raised from 20% to 22%.
      According to the programme, at least two figures from Instrumentarium, Kari Visti and Peter Tchernych, were present at the meeting. The two are still working for GE Healthcare.
     
In an interview, Reiche told Knus that the two-percent increase was needed for "political and legal consultations" which would help the project move forward quickly.
      Reiche says that the Finns approved of the "consultation" without asking questions, but insisted that the word "consultant" should not be used. The increase had to be justified by logistics expenses.
      The project was approved in Costa Rica in record speed, and the country’s Parliament took just three days to give its OK. Instrumentarium won the contract as the only bidder.
      In a later review, it was established that the Instrumentarium equipment cost between 28.5% and 40% more than similar equipment manufactured by other companies.
      The report also found that about 12 million dollars worth of equipment - more than a fifth of the whole - proved to be superfluous, or was simply not taken into use.
      Helsingin Sanomat reached Kari Visti on Tuesday. GE Healthcare has instructed its employees not to comment on the affair as long as the investigation in Costa Rica continues.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Costa Rica bribery scandal involves Finnish company (25.10.2004)
  Foreign Ministry to investigate Instrumentarium deals in Costa Rica (23.9.2004)
  General Electric to acquire Instrumentarium (19.12.2002)

Helsingin Sanomat