Defense investigators raid Siemens Medical in Pa.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA — 

Agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service arrived at the sprawling complex in Malvern, near Philadelphia, in the morning and were still onsite hours later.

Special Agent-in-Charge Ed Bradley confirmed that his agency performed the search, while the company said the investigation centers on one of its defense contracts.

"The search was focused on one floor, on one building of Siemens' Malvern campus," company spokesman Lance Longwell said in a statement. "Siemens asked employees who work near the area subject to the search to leave for the remainder of the day and to return tomorrow for a regular workday."

Longwell said the company was cooperating with authorities and would continue to do so.

Siemens Medical won the one-year Defense Department contract to provide medical-imaging equipment to the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies. More than two dozen other firms competed for the contract, according to a Defense Department announcement in late March.

Siemens Medical has won previous government contracts, including another military contract for $30 million awarded in February 2007.

The company, a unit of Munich-based Siemens AG, focuses on imaging equipment, such as CT scans, as well as information technology and managing consulting in the health-care industry.

Siemen's entire health-care sector employs about 49,000 people in 130 countries, and reported profits of 1.2 billion euros (about $1.6 billion) on 11.2 billion euros in income (about $14.6 billion) for fiscal year 2008, Longwell said.

Patty Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia, declined comment.

___

On the Net:

Siemens Medical Solutions USA: http://www.medical.siemens.com

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.