In China, the British pharmaceutical company Glaxo SmithKline now been ordered to pay a record fine after being found guilty of corruption and bribery. GlaxoSmithKline ordered to pay the equivalent of 3.5 billion in fines. Several of the company’s executives in China have also received prison sentences.
The fines that Glaxo SmithKline now been ordered to pay is the highest ever imposed in the country. The verdict came today represents the latest chapter in a long anti-corruption campaign in China. The anti-corruption campaign has mainly focused on Chinese companies and politicians, but a number of foreign companies have also caught in the net. And the greatest of these cases have moved right Glaxo SmithKline.
The company of the Chinese court now been found guilty of having paid out around three billion yuan in bribes to get health care professionals to use their drugs and products. The sum is equivalent to about the fine that now been ordered to pay.
Many managers within the company have also been sentenced to prison terms of between two and four years. Among those convicted are Briton Mark Reilly formerly Glaxo Smith Klines China Chef. The company has said that it published an apology to the Chinese government and people.
The investigation against Glaxo Smith Kline has long been widely reported in the Chinese media. Some argue that this has been a way for the Chinese authorities to show the people that not only are Chinese companies and politicians who are corrupt. Anger over widespread corruption is high among the population of China.
Foreign companies often end up in a difficult position in China. Bribery and corruption is so clearly illegal, but because corruption permeates the entire society, foreign companies often find it difficult to survive in the Chinese market unless they also make use of, such as bribery.
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