A top GlaxoSmithKline executive in China was filmed in a bedraggled state “confessing” to bribery claims at Britain’s biggest drugmaker on Chinese state TV.
Chinese police have accused GSK of being a “criminal godfather” and “ringleader” in a bribery scandal involving payments of ¥3 billion (£320 million) to doctors and hospitals over the past six years, and arrested four of its managers.
And last night Liang Hong, GSK’s vice-president of operations in China, was interviewed on one of the country’s flagship news programmes, unshaven and with dark shadows under his eyes, when he said: “The money we spent to run our business was too much – about 20 to 30% of the drug price. The costs [of our bribery] were all included in the drug price.”
He claimed GSK had inflated the costs of conferences for up to 2000 people, budgeted to cost more than ¥10 million, and creamed off the cash to bribe doctors and middlemen, with some retained by executives.
GSK declined to comment but has said “We are reviewing all third party agency relationships.”
