UK Prime Minister David Cameron raised the GSK case with Li Kegiang, the Chinese premier during talks in Beijing
Singapore: GlaxoSmithKline, the British drug maker that is facing accusations of bribery and corruption in China seems to have got support from the UK Prime Minister.
On his four-day high profile visit to China, Prime Minister David Cameron is said to have met with China's top leadership and discussed the matter relating to the company with them.
Mr Cameron was accompanied by Sir (Dr) Andrew Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline who led a delegation of over 100 top CEOs and business people to China. Reports revealed that the Prime Minister raised the GSK case with Li Kegiang, the Chinese premier during talks in Beijing.
Reuters reported Mr Cameron as saying, "From all my dealings with GSK, I know that they are a very important, very decent and strong British business that is a long-term investor in China. I think it is right to raise a case like that. Britain has a record of properly standing up for British businesses and British individuals, raising individual cases in the right way and having a proper dialogue with the Chinese authorities about the issues."
The company has been facing the ire of Chinese authorities, after it was accused of spending $489 million (3 billion yuan) to bribe doctors and hospitals and to eventually evade taxes. Further, the company has been accused of offering sexual favors too to bribe doctors. Following the revelations made about the scandal, the company's sales in China fell by 61 percent between July and September.
