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| "When the problems were exposed, the company pushed all responsibilities to individual employees." |
Back in late August I wrote about the denial coming from GSK UK regarding Chinagate. Glaxo chief, Andrew "All part of an era" Witty, claimed that GSK HQ in London knew nothing about the fraud occurring in China. [Not on my watch, honest guv]
Well, now it seems that the whole operation was set up from the UK headquarters, at least that's what Reuters seem to be reporting.
To be fair to GSK, the Reuters article doesn't really elaborate on its opening of, "A Chinese police investigation into drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has discovered that alleged bribery of doctors in China was coordinated by the British company and was not the work of individual employees, state media reported on Tuesday."
In fact what follows is claims that it was organised by GSK China and not just individual employees. This kind of makes a mockery of the company statements we've seen over the past couple of months, statements such as: "We remain deeply concerned by the allegations of fraudulent behavior and ethical misconduct in our China business." [Psychopath Alert]
The Chinese news agency Xinhua are reporting that Huang Hong, general manager for GSK's business operations in China, has claimed that GSK implemented salary policies based on sales volumes and such goals could not be achieved without "dubious corporate behavior". Furthermore Xinhua are also reporting that Guo Jianhua, head of recruitment at GSK China, was quoted by the official People's Daily newspaper as saying the company had turned a blind eye to illegal behavior.
"When the problems were exposed, the company pushed all responsibilities to individual employees," Guo said.
Witty, of course, can still deny that he didn't know what was going on and I'm sure he will. I've yet to see anyone from this company take account for their abhorrent behaviour.
Can you imagine Witty coming out and apologising and telling the global public that he did indeed know and the whole thing was part of GSK's global business plan. His knighthood would be taken away from him, company shares would sky dive and lawsuits would follow.
Next time you read or hear any statement coming from GSK, bear in mind that they may only be saying what they want their shareholders to hear.
On a footnote U.S. authorities are now investigating GlaxoSmithKline for violations of U.S. anti-bribery laws in China.
This British company really should be being investigated by British authorities, don't you think?
Bob Fiddaman
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