China probes staff of Britain's GlaxoSmithKline

The headquarters of pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in west London, in 2002. Chinese police are investigating senior management staff of the British drug firm in China for suspected "economic crimes", according to a statement. (AFP/File)

SHANGHAI (AFP) – Chinese police are investigating senior management staff of British drug firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in China for suspected "economic crimes", according to a statement.

Police in the central Chinese city of Changsha said they were investigating personnel of GlaxoSmithKline (China) Investment Co., said the statement, which was reported by state media on Monday.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper on Monday said police had detained company employees in three cities: Changsha, the commercial hub Shanghai and Beijing.

A spokeswoman for the company, which has its China headquarters in Shanghai, declined to comment, saying she was not authorised to speak to overseas media.

Internet postings, which could not be confirmed, said more than 10 police in plainclothes entered the GSK office in Shanghai last Thursday and seized account books.

The allegations involve at least one foreign executive employed by the company, said the postings on China's Twitter-like microblogs.

The exact nature of the allegations was not specified by Changsha police. But authorities typically use the phrase "economic crimes" when referring to corruption.

It is common practice for Chinese pharmaceutical firms to offer doctors and hospitals bribes to have their products used, industry insiders say.

GSK is one of the largest multinational pharmaceutical companies in China with total investment of more than $500 million, according to its website.

Last month, GSK said data was "misrepresented" in a paper written by scientists at its China research centre published in the journal "Nature Medicine" in 2010.

The company sacked one person involved and placed three others on administrative leave while another resigned, it said.