Chinese government accuses ex-GSK head Mark Reilly of bribing doctors
Following 10-month probe into firm, Beijing says Mark Reilly bribed doctors to use Glaxo drugs and then tried to hide his activities
The Chinese government has publicly accused a British executive of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) of bribing doctors to use its drugs and then trying to cover up his activities during a subsequent investigation.
If convicted, Mark Reilly, the former China head of GSK, could face a prison term - an extremely rare fate for a senior foreign executive on the mainland.
Police have completed a 10-month investigation into Britain's largest drug firm, the Ministry of Public Security said on its website yesterday. The ministry had passed the case to the Changsha People's Procurator in Hunan , which is reviewing the case, said a GSK spokesman.
It is really mind-boggling how a British [executive] can behave like this
Wang Bing, a Beijing-based partner with US law firm Faegre Baker Daniels, said: "British companies have strict ethical and anti-bribery rules. It is really mind-boggling how a British [executive] can behave like this. It is rare for a British [executive] to be involved in such a scheme in such a blatant manner."
The UK Serious Fraud Office is aware of the allegations against GSK but would neither deny nor confirm it was investigating the firm under the UK Bribery Act.
The Ministry of Public Security alleged that Reilly, GSK vice-president Zhang Guowei and GSK legal affairs supervisor Zhao Hongyan formed an emergency group in 2012 to bribe law enforcement and other officials in Beijing, Shanghai and elsewhere to block a government investigation of GSK.
"Reilly and other senior GSK executives proactively covered up the bribery activities and strongly maintained the financing channels through which the bribes were funnelled," the ministry alleged.