Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline announced this week that it has become the target of yet another criminal investigation, this time by the British government.

On May 27, GSK Company Secretary V.A. Whyte disclosed in a two-sentence statement that the U.K. Serious Fraud Office “has opened a formal criminal investigation into the group's commercial practices.”

“GSK is committed to operating its business to the highest ethical standards and will continue to cooperate fully with the SFO,” Whyte added.

Other Investigations

The company did not reveal the focus of the U.K. criminal investigation, but it comes at a time when GSK is already in hot water with Chinese enforcement authorities.

As Compliance Week previously reported, China wrapped up a 10-month bribery investigation this month into GSK's operations there, resulting in bribery charges against Mark Reilly, a British national who served as managing director of GSK China. Reilly is being accused of ordering his sales teams to bribe hospitals, doctors, and other healthcare institutions in order to boost drug sales, resulting in billions of yuan in increased revenue, according to the official Chinese news service Xinhua.

Two other GSK executives, Zhang Guowie and Zhao Hongyan, also are suspected of bribing industry and commerce department officials in Beijing and Shanghai, Xinhua reported. The case now has been turned over to Chinese prosecutors.

GSK is also investigating potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for alleged bribery payments made to doctors in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Poland.

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