GSK rehires woman investigated for whistleblowing about bribery

Vivian Shi, the former Chinese GSK employee who was investigated for leaking information about bribery by the company, has been rehired. 

 

 

“We can confirm we have rehired Vivian,” the pharmaceutical company said in an e-mailed statement today. “We are not going to comment further on an individual employee.”

 

Last year, the Chinese arm of GSK was found guilty of bribing doctors and had to pay a fine of £297m. The authorities were first alerted to the illegal activity by a series of leaked emails and videos, and soon afterwards enquiries were launched by the UK Serious Fraud Office and US justice department. 

 

In 2013 Ms Shi became the focus of an internal investigation into who the culprit was, soon after she was fired in 2012 from her position as head of government affairs in China.

 

It was never proven that she was responsible for the leak, however, and she denied any involvement in a campaign against the company. 

 

It is not known whether she will be appointed to her original role or to a new one. When she was fired three years ago, GSK said it was on the grounds of alleged irregularities in travel expenses.