The CFO says that both companies make nearly identical contact lenses, and the products are similarly priced. But, he points out, the European company is able to secure business by participating in a phony billing scheme. The hospital pays the right price for the eyewear, but bilks patients out of twice that by issuing them the bogus invoices. The CFO says he supplies the fake invoices on behalf of the European con-tact lens company. But when he represents the US company, he operates strictly by the book.
People pay what the doctors ask.
Experts say, under the new regulations, the US firm will be able to assert that the over-invoicing is nothing more than the bribery of public officials to help win a contract. Bidding for life insurance licenses in Thailand, for one. A US lawyer representing US insurance companies in Thailand agrees. The attorney tells the story of submitting a comprehensive bid for a license on behalf of one US insurer. The bid, he says, was rejected in favor of local companies with absolutely no experience in the field.