Philips scammed out of €20 million: report

Some of Philips' small foreign partner companies stole a total of about 20 million euros from the Dutch technology company by committing large-scale corporate fraud, De Telegraaf reports based on research from the Financieele Dagblad. The fraud happened during freight audit, which is checked by a number of smaller parties on behalf of Philips. Billions of euros flows through the control and payment of freight charges. According to the newspaper, some of these parties made suppliers pay structurally, thus creating surpluses which the ferreted away into private accounts. Tow of the parties involved in the fraudulent activities were Inspeg, a former Philips subsidiary in Germany, and Trendset, an American company. Both of these companies went bankrupt. Philips can largely recover this loss from its insurer. The actual amount could be limited to 5 million euros.