Italy's health minister reported to be under investigation
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《英国医生杂志》
The Italian health minister, Professor Girolamo Sirchia, is at the centre of a media storm in Italy, after several journalists reported that he was under preliminary investigation for suspected corruption by the Office of the Prosecutors in Milan.
According to details leaked to the press, several heads of hospital units are said to have been paid by the Italian branch of the US company Immucor, producer of reagents and automated systems for blood testing, allegedly for helping the company to obtain contracts with their respective hospitals.
However, in a statement issued to the BMJ, the company said any payments were for scientific and medical research services, not for help in obtaining contracts.
Italy's health minister, Girolamo Sirchia, declined to comment on corruption investigation
Credit: GRAZIA NERI/CAMERA PRESS
"In the past, Immucor retained less than 10 physicians, including Professor Sirchia, to perform scientific and medical research services or to arrange and participate in scientific conferences, and for no other purpose," explained Edward Gallup, chairman and chief executive of Immucor. "The employees and customers of Immucor have been unfairly treated by the Italian press," he said.
The investigation by the Milan prosecutors hit the headlines in September 2004, when the immunologist Francesco Mercuriali—head of the immunology unit at the Niguarda University Hospital in Milan—was accused of corruption. Professor Mercuriali later committed suicide, in October, while subject to house arrest. Professor Mercuriali had been a student of Professor Sirchia, who was also a close friend. Professor Sirchia publicly defended him, blaming the inquiry for his death.
Earlier this year, Immucor, based in Atlanta, Georgia, decided to cooperate with the Italian investigations and make financial disclosure to the prosecutors.
Meanwhile, the police forced the immunohaematology unit of the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan University to hand over all contracts signed in Professor Sirchia's final years as head of the unit, reportedly covering all contracts between 1997 and 2000. Professor Sirchia had been the chief of the immunohaematology unit and of the blood bank for several decades before becoming health minister in May 2001.
This came to the attention of the press, and a few days later the most widely read Italian daily newspaper, La Repubblica, published on its front page a photocopy of an international cheque dated June 2000 for 11 000 German marks (about ￡3900; $7300; 5600) with the names of Immucor and Professor Sirchia. The newspaper claimed the cheque was one of three payment orders for that sum made out to Professor Sirchia through a Swiss bank. La Repubblica said Immucor's president, Gioacchino De Chirico, had given this to the prosecutors. At the time, many newspapers printed denials from Professor Sirchia that he had ever had a bank account abroad. He also said that as far as he remembered, he had "absolutely not" had payments from Immucor with cheques in his name.
When asked by the BMJ to respond to what had been published in Italian newspapers, Professor Sirchia said, "These are journalistic allegations which form no part of the prosecutor's case." He declined to comment further. When the BMJ put to him the more recent comments from Edward Gallup, the minister declined to comment further on them, arguing it was best not to do so while there was an investigation in process.(Fabio Turone)
According to details leaked to the press, several heads of hospital units are said to have been paid by the Italian branch of the US company Immucor, producer of reagents and automated systems for blood testing, allegedly for helping the company to obtain contracts with their respective hospitals.
However, in a statement issued to the BMJ, the company said any payments were for scientific and medical research services, not for help in obtaining contracts.
Italy's health minister, Girolamo Sirchia, declined to comment on corruption investigation
Credit: GRAZIA NERI/CAMERA PRESS
"In the past, Immucor retained less than 10 physicians, including Professor Sirchia, to perform scientific and medical research services or to arrange and participate in scientific conferences, and for no other purpose," explained Edward Gallup, chairman and chief executive of Immucor. "The employees and customers of Immucor have been unfairly treated by the Italian press," he said.
The investigation by the Milan prosecutors hit the headlines in September 2004, when the immunologist Francesco Mercuriali—head of the immunology unit at the Niguarda University Hospital in Milan—was accused of corruption. Professor Mercuriali later committed suicide, in October, while subject to house arrest. Professor Mercuriali had been a student of Professor Sirchia, who was also a close friend. Professor Sirchia publicly defended him, blaming the inquiry for his death.
Earlier this year, Immucor, based in Atlanta, Georgia, decided to cooperate with the Italian investigations and make financial disclosure to the prosecutors.
Meanwhile, the police forced the immunohaematology unit of the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan University to hand over all contracts signed in Professor Sirchia's final years as head of the unit, reportedly covering all contracts between 1997 and 2000. Professor Sirchia had been the chief of the immunohaematology unit and of the blood bank for several decades before becoming health minister in May 2001.
This came to the attention of the press, and a few days later the most widely read Italian daily newspaper, La Repubblica, published on its front page a photocopy of an international cheque dated June 2000 for 11 000 German marks (about ￡3900; $7300; 5600) with the names of Immucor and Professor Sirchia. The newspaper claimed the cheque was one of three payment orders for that sum made out to Professor Sirchia through a Swiss bank. La Repubblica said Immucor's president, Gioacchino De Chirico, had given this to the prosecutors. At the time, many newspapers printed denials from Professor Sirchia that he had ever had a bank account abroad. He also said that as far as he remembered, he had "absolutely not" had payments from Immucor with cheques in his name.
When asked by the BMJ to respond to what had been published in Italian newspapers, Professor Sirchia said, "These are journalistic allegations which form no part of the prosecutor's case." He declined to comment further. When the BMJ put to him the more recent comments from Edward Gallup, the minister declined to comment further on them, arguing it was best not to do so while there was an investigation in process.(Fabio Turone)