Cardiologists in Amsterdam and Nijmegen raided over corruption

National fraud investigation service FIOD has raided the homes of six cardiologists in Amsterdam and Nijmegen on suspicion of corruption, and property worth at least €1.5 million has been seized, current affairs programme Nieuwsuur reported on Friday.

The FIOD believes the doctors took money from medical supply companies, under the guise of research funding, in exchange for giving those suppliers better deals. The money may have been pocketed by the doctors and funnelled through holding companies, the FIOD said.

The raids were announced on Thursday but no details were given as to which hospitals were involved, only that they were in Noord-Holland and Gelderland. Eight addresses were searched but nobody was arrested.

Nieuwsuur and research platform Investico identified the doctors through land registry records. Two work at the OLVG hospital in Amsterdam; the other four were, until recently, at the CWZ hospital in Nijmegen.

Long-running row
The Nijmegen doctors were sacked by the CWZ last year after a dispute over money. The hospital said in May 2025 they had taken €2.7 million in “sponsorship” from medical suppliers over five years, at a time when it was buying equipment from the same companies.

The FIOD has not said whether that dispute is connected to its investigation.

Zwolle
In 2022 the FIOD raided the homes of five cardiologists at the Isala hospital in Zwolle who were suspected of taking €3.2 million from a German pacemaker maker. Waiting lists there more than doubled after two of the doctors were suspended. That case has still not come to court.

Later that year Nieuwsuur found dozens of cardiologists were taking millions from device makers without their hospitals knowing. The FIOD says tips from within the medical sector and media reports prompted the new investigation.

Neither hospital had responded to a request for comment on Friday.