Glaxo fraud probe after bribing doctors to prescribe its drugs
DRUGS titan Glaxosmithkline faces a fresh bribery probe over allegations it paid doctors to prescribe its medicines to patients.
The FTSE 100 giant has been quizzed by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over the scandal in China, which saw it fined £297m in 2014.
The firm also paid £15m to US authorities in 2016 to settle allegations of bribing foreign officials.
The scandal centres on alleged payments Glaxo made to doctors in China to get them to use its medications instead of rival products. It has now emerged that UK investigators are probing the role of advisers Glaxo hired while under investigation in China.
The SFO has requested information from Glaxo, which is cooperating. It is thought its investigation spans several countries.
Glaxo says it has informed US authorities, including the Department of Justice (DOJ) about the development and is now dealing with its enquiries as well. The firm said: ‘GSK is co- operating and responding to these requests.’
Allegations about Glaxo’s Chinese business first surfaced in 2013, when China probed payments. Glaxo hired several companies to form a ‘crisis management team’ to investigate.
But that took a bizarre turn in 2013 when bosses at the Glaxo’s London headquarters were sent an email with a video of Mark Reilly, the head of the China arm, engaged in a sex act with a young Chinese woman.
In the email, the sender claimed Reilly was involved in a bribery scheme that funnelled money to doctors through a travel company, which supplied him with women to secure the business.
Glaxo hired Paul Humphrey, a private investigator, to look into the whistleblower. But Humphrey’s house in China was raided by Chinese authorities and he and his wife were jailed for breaching privacy laws.
Glaxo’s offices in China were also raided and it was found guilty in a Chinese court in September 2014 of ‘bribing non-government personnel’, using more than 700 travel agents.
It was handed a fine of £297m – the biggest in China’s history – and five staff, including Reilly, were given suspended jail sentences. The DOJ never brought any formal enforcement action against Glaxo, which agreed to pay to settle civil charges in 2016 without admitting or denying them. Last night a spokesman for the DOJ declined to comment.
Glaxo said: ‘Given the SFO investigation is ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment at this stage.’
The SFO’s head, David Green, has previously said investigators hoped to resolve the case before his departure in April. A spokesman last night said she could not provide an update.