GSK finance director barred from leaving China
pharmafile | July 18, 2013 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | GSK, bribes, corruption, hong
GlaxoSmithKline’s finance director and British citizen Steve Nechelput has been stopped from the leaving China as the bribery case into the firm continues.
The information was revealed last night by Reuters, citing a person familiar with the situation, who said Nechelput had been unable to leave since late June, but was still free to move around the country.
GlaxoSmithKline said Nechelput, a 20-year veteran at the firm, had not been questioned, arrested or detained by police. The BBC is reporting that the British embassy in Beijing is providing consular assistance.
This comes three days after police in China said GSK had transferred 3bn Yuan (£321 million) to travel agencies and consultancies to facilitate bribes to doctors.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are aware of the Chinese investigation. We are in contact with GlaxoSmithKline and are in the process of seeking further information from the Chinese authorities.”
A GSK spokesman told the Daily Telegraph: “We have been aware of travel restrictions for Steve since the end of June. His travel is unrestricted within China.
“At no time has he been questioned or arrested nor is he one of the individuals in detention. He continues in his role as finance director for GSK China.”
Four senior GSK executives are currently being held by Chinese authorities in relation to the bribery case.
On Monday Liang Hong, the vice president of operations in China, appeared on one of China Central Television’s news programmes from a detention cell, admitting that his firm had overspent on the business, and was using travel agencies to launder bribes to doctors.
Further cases
Speaking earlier this week Wendy Wysong, a lawyer at Clifford Chance in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg that four other multinational drug companies are also facing investigation.
But it remains unclear which firms these are. So far, AstraZeneca, Roche and Novartis have said they have not had any contact by Chinese authorities, and no companies other than GSK have been named by officials in the country.
China is also looking into around 60 other firms, again including GSK, into allegations of ‘economic crimes’ and abuses of antitrust laws.
Two more government departments, the Chinese Food and Drug Administration and the Commerce ministry, have also promised to ‘clean up’ illegal practices in the pharma industry.
This all comes as China’s economy, traditionally metronomic in its growth rate, begins to slow and like many Western countries, it is now looking to the healthcare budget to make savings.
Ben Adams
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