Former Zeon Medical president 'indicted on bribery charge'

Tokyo – Zeon Group has announced that a former president of group company Zeon Medical Inc. has been indicted on a charge of bribing a hospital physician.

The former company president, who had been arrested on suspicion of bribery, “was indicted yesterday by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on the same charge,” Zeon announced 13 Oct.

In an earlier statement, Zeon said it carried out an internal investigation with the assistance of an outside law firm, following internal suspicions of improper monetary payments to medical institutions.

Results of the investigation were reported to the Japan Fair Trade Council of the Medical Devices Industry, said Zeon, which has been consulting and ‘fully cooperating’ with the police.

“We deeply apologize once again to our customers, shareholders, and all other stakeholders for any inconvenience or concern this situation has caused,” Zeon's latest statement added.

Zeon Group, it said, will work to prevent any recurrence of the alleged misconduct and further strengthen its compliance procedures to prevent any future incidents.

The Tokyo-headquartered group said it could not release any further information at this time, given the ongoing investigation and possible future legal proceedings.