China probe into GlaxoSmithKline bribery allegations escalates

16 July 2013

Investigations in China relating to alleged bribery and tax-related crimes by UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK; The Pharma Letter July 11)) escalated yesterday, when Gao Feng, head of economic crimes at the Ministry of Public Security, said that police were examining some 3 billion renminbi (around $490 million) worth of transfers to travel agencies and consultancies going back as far as 2007 that were channelled to bribe doctor to prescribe the companies drugs.

Four senior Chinese executives from GSK have been held, said Mr Gao at a briefing in Beijing yesterday. "We have sufficient reason to suspect that these transfers were conducted illegally…You could say the travel agencies and GSK were criminal partners," he added.

According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, the executives are Liang Hong, vice president and operations manager of GlaxoSmithKline China, human resources director Zhang Guowei, legal affairs director Zhao Hongyan and business development manager Huang Hong.

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