Chinese authorities have charged Mark Reilly, a British national and the former head of Chinese operations for pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, in an enormous scheme to bribe doctors and hospitals, presumably to persuade them to purchase GSK drugs. From Reuters:
Officials gave no specific details on the amount of bribes paid or exactly how much the company had illegally earned, although they had previously accused the firm of funneling up to 3 billion yuan ($482 million) to travel agencies to facilitate bribes to doctors and officials…
The charges against the British executive shocked the business community as GSK had previously said it believed the alleged corruption involved senior Chinese staff only.
A source told Reuters he believes authorities will seek to imprison Reilly for “about 10 years.”
