Corporate investigators finding it tougher in China
The arrest of Peter Humphrey and his wife Yu Yingzeng may be related to the fact that Beijing is making it increasingly harder for corporate investigators to do their work, risk consultants say.
The arrest of Peter Humphrey and his wife Yu Yingzeng may be related to the fact that Beijing is making it increasingly harder for corporate investigators to do their work, risk consultants say.
"Conducting research is more difficult in China than many other jurisdictions because access to a lot of company information that would be public elsewhere is restricted by the authorities," said Ariana Issa, a senior associate at Alaco, a London provider of business intelligence.
"It's very difficult to investigate in China within the bounds of the law," echoed a Hong Kong risk consultant who did not want to be identified.
"In investigations, it's possible for risk consultants to have done something to break Chinese law. People may have to go to the edge of the law to obtain information," said another British risk consultant, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The trend in China in recent years has been to make information that used to be public more inaccessible. Our ability to conduct checks in China has been restricted."
A British consular official in Beijing confirmed Humphrey, a British citizen, was formally arrested in Shanghai on August 19 and has been in detention since July 10.
A US consular official in Shanghai confirmed Yu, a US citizen, was arrested this week and has been in detention in Shanghai since July.
On the mainland, a person who is formally arrested faces prosecution, which need not be the case with detentions.
One of Humphrey's last articles on ChinaWhys' website was headlined, "How fraud investigation just got harder in China".
In January, investigation firms could no longer freely access records of the Administration of Industry and Commerce on the mainland, Humphrey's article said.
Humphrey was believed detained because he refused to hand over information to state investigators. He was conducting internal investigations for GSK, in the course of which he discovered a senior Chinese official was implicated in corruption. Humphrey was subsequently contacted by state investigators. The could not verify this.
The arrest of Humphrey and Yu, as well as the investigation of GSK, were directed from Beijing, said a Hong Kong analyst. "It has a political dimension."
Prime Minister David Cameron is to visit China later this year. The consular official declined to say how Humphrey's arrest would affect Cameron's visit.
Beijing's investigation into GSK has spread to another international drug company, Eli Lilly. A former manager of the US drug firm told the mainland's newspaper that the company spent more than 30 million yuan (HK$38 million) bribing doctors to prescribe its drugs. Eli Lilly said it was "deeply concerned" about these allegations, Reuters reported.
On Wednesday, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce called for a major effort in investigating bribery in the pharmaceuticals sector.