Boston Scientific investigating corruption, bribery allegation in Vietnam

Photo | TMS Aerial Solutions Boston Scientific's Marlborough headquarters

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Marlborough medical device manufacturer Boston Scientific Corp. has received a whistleblower letter saying the company violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in its dealings in Vietnam.

Boston Scientific received the complaint in March and disclosed the matter in its second quarter financial report to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, which was filed on Aug. 4.

The company’s disclosure didn’t provide any further details on the matter, except to say Boston Scientific is cooperating with government agencies while investigating the whistleblower complaints.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which was created in 1977, prohibits companies from bribing government officials in foreign countries, in efforts to benefit their business.

Boston Scientific doesn’t list any Vietnam facilities on its website. However, it does list Vietnam as one of 20 emerging markets where it believes the company has strong growth potential based on the countries’ economic conditions, according to its second-quarter financial report. Other countries on that list are Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey.

In the first six months of 2022, Boston Scientific’s revenue from those 20 markets combined was $817 million, which is up 21% from the first six months of 2021. Those emerging markets made up 13% of the company’s $6.3-billion total revenue in the first six months of this year.