GlaxoSmithKline fined $490mln in China after court verdictSeptember 19, 2014 - 14:36 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - China has fined UK pharmaceuticals firm GlaxoSmithKline $490mln after a court found it guilty of bribery, BBC News reported. The record penalty follows allegations the drug giant paid out bribes to doctors and hospitals in order to have their products promoted. The court gave GSK's former head of Chinese operations, Mark Reilly, a suspended three-year prison sentence and he is set to be deported. Other GSK executives have also been given suspended jail sentences. The guilty verdict was delivered after a one-day trial at a court in Changsha, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. Chinese authorities first announced they were investigating GSK in July last year, in what has become the biggest corruption scandal to hit a foreign firm in years. The company was accused of having made an estimated $150m in illegal profits. GSK said it had "published a statement of apology to the Chinese government and its people". "Reaching a conclusion in the investigation of our Chinese business is important, but this has been a deeply disappointing matter for GSK," said chief executive Sir Andrew Witty in a statement. "We have and will continue to learn from this. GSK has been in China for close to a hundred years and we remain fully committed to the country and its people," he said. "We will also continue to invest directly in the country to support the government's health care reform agenda and long-term plans for economic growth." Mick Cooper, analyst at Edison Investment Research in London, commented: "GlaxoSmithKline will hope that this will draw a line under events in China, but it will take time for its Chinese commercial operations to recover." Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Armenia PM meets Iran’s Supreme Leader in Tehran Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a meeting with Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Seyyed Ali Khamenei Ruling MP accuses opposition of “serving other countries' interests” Khachatur Sukiasyan has accused Armenia’s opposition of serving the interests of other countries Protest leader vows to achieve departure of Armenian authorities According to Archbishop Bagrat, there is only one solution to the situation in Armenia. Heads of Armenian, Ukrainian parliaments hold virtual talks Alen Simonyan and Ruslan Stefanchuk held talks via video conference on Tuesday, May 21. |