Reuters: Philips was warned of irregularities in Brazil

Philips Healthcare was warned of "suspicious sales" of its medical equipment in Brazil by a whistleblower years before allegations of bribery became public, according to an August 21 article published by Reuters.

The article alleges that the whistleblower, Jose Israel Masiero, was an executive with a firm that was working with Philips to secure a deal to sell medical equipment to the Brazilian government. The firms were working with a middleman who had secured a contract with the country's Ministry of Health.

Masiero suspected that the middleman's contract had been secured through bribery, and he sent multiple warnings to Philips executives, according to the article. But Philips continued to sell equipment to the Brazilian government, according to invoices that Reuters obtained.

Philips told Reuters that it is cooperating with authorities in Brazil who are investigating the country's medical device industry, and that it launched an internal investigation in response to an "anonymous complaint" in 2010.

The incident comes as U.S. regulators look into allegations that several major imaging OEMs -- including Philips, Siemens Healthineers, and GE Healthcare -- may have paid bribes to government officials in China and Brazil to secure equipment sales.