The entire GSK investigation, led by the Economic Crimes Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security, could wrap up by the end of this year at the earliest, but that there are still disagreements over whether GSK will be charged for corporate bribery or whether only its executives in China should be charged.  A professor at the People’s Public Security University of China who specialises in economic crimes investigations said recently in Shanghai at a closed-door meeting that the risk of GSK being charged as a legal entity cannot be ruled out, three people who attended the meeting told PaRR. GSK’s management, whether Chinese or foreign nationals, could therefore face charges in the case, the three people said.

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On December 3, 2013, Transparency International released 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index about the perceived levels of public sector corruption in 177 countries/territories around the world. 

Denmark and New Zealand, scored 91, are ranked No. 1 in integrity.  The bottom countries are Afghanistan, North Korea and Somania, which are all scored 8 and ranked at 175.  China and Greece, scored 40, are ranked at 80.  China was ranked at 80 as well in 2012.

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It has been typical under PRC law for bribe takers to be punished more severely than bribe givers. The policy was to punish extortion and incentivize cooperation with government investigations. But as recent investigations into the sales practices of big pharmaceutical companies have shown, this policy may be changing.

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Three international organizations just released the Anti-Corruption Ethics and Compliance Handbook for Business.  The three organizations include the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank.  Hereinafter is the self-explanatory message from the OECD, the UNODC and the World Bank.

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If a local manager in China pays bribes and is liable under the law, could his or her supervising executives in the U.S. or Europe also be held criminally responsible? Or should they shrug off the possible liabilities by claiming “the mountain is high, the emperor is far away?”

China law imposes responsibility for crimes committed by business “units” (such as bribery) on a couple of categories of individuals -- “the responsible persons who are directly in charge” (直接负责的主管人员) and “the other persons who are directly responsible” (其他直接责任人员).

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China's antitrust watchdog, the National Development and Reform Commission, has launched an investigation into Qualcomm.  The NDRC is keeping its investigation confidential right now but is examining the company through the lens of the country's anti-monopoly law, Qualcomm said on Monday November 25, 2013. Since details on the investigation are confidential, there's no telling at the moment what the country could be looking at with Qualcomm.

 

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The lawyer did not tell them “yes or no” regarding legality.  He instead proposed that Roadway change the title of their purchase contracts from “Contract for Purchasing Information and Data” to “Contract on the Advice and Consultation for Commercial Data,” as though that would in some way help. In light of the lawyer’s advice, Roadway continued purchasing the private data and that decision became “perfect incriminating evidence to prove that Roadway and the other four accused individuals intentionally committed the crime of breaching privacy.”

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According to Mr. LU Yanchun, a Deputy Director of the Price Supervision and Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission (the “NDRC”), the NDRC is going to tighten up the law enforcement in the industries of aviation (presumably retailing services), everyday chemicals, automobiles, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and household electric appliances. 

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