Nobel prize panels under probe for bribery

Stockholm: A special corruption procecuter told AFP on thursday that several Nobel Science Prize Committees are being investigated for possible bribery.

Special corruption prosecutor Nils Erik Schultz said he had launched a preliminary investigation. He said he was looking into “the cost, who went on the trip, where they went, what position they held and I want to see their itinerary too.”

In addition, he was examining “why the Chinese wanted to invite these people to China, was there the possibility they thought they could influence them in any way.”The investigation is not currently examining any people specifically, but looking into the trip itself to begin with, he said.
The second corruption case involves Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, which earlier this year signed a sponsor agreement with two Nobel companies with close ties to the Nobel Foundation: Nobel Web and Nobel Media. Each year, the winners of the Nobel prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry, economics and literature are announced on October. Src:AFP