Last year, around 100 veterans filed a bombshell lawsuit against several drugmakers, by accusing that they funded terrorism by paying high bribes to win contracts with the Iraqi Ministry of Health. At present, the Department of Justice is investigating similar accusations, as per AstraZeneca securities filing which says that it's part of the probe.

In the SEC document, it was mentioned “It received an inquiry from the DOJ in connection with an anti-corruption investigation relating to activities in Iraq, including interactions with the Iraqi government and certain of the same matters". The spokesperson from AstraZeneca said, “the company has a robust and dynamic compliance program, and we refuse to tolerate bribery or any other form of corruption."

Last year, the veterans sued Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Roche since they paid bribes to terrorists that "openly controlled the Iraqi ministry in charge of importing medical goods." The petitioner supposed the drug companies "obtained lucrative contracts from that ministry by making corrupt payments to the terrorists who ran it." 

The second-quarter filings did not mention a DOJ probe or have not yet been filed till yesterday morning. The company representatives have not responded yet.

 When the lawsuit was filed, the representative from Pfizer said,“the company categorically denies any wrongdoing." A spokesperson from AstraZeneca said,“the company has a zero-tolerance policy for bribery and corruption and was disheartened that anyone would suggest we are connected to terrorism-related activity."