Dive Brief:
- A whisteblower sent an emaill to top management on Monday alleging that someone at GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Romanian office has been sending out improper payments.
- The latest allegations are part of a longer list of allegations (some of which have been corroborated) in numerous countries, including Poland, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq—and of course, China.
- The most highly publicized case involving GSK's corruption was when the company was fined $483 million in China last year after being accused of and found guilty of bribing doctors, hospitals, and other non-governmental personnel.
Dive Insight:
Going back to May 2014 when U.K.-based GSK was facing charges of "fraudulent marketing activity" in the U.K., and through the very high-profile scandal in China, until now, GSK has continued to assert that it has zero tolerance for corrupt behavior and holds its employees to the highest ethical standards.
Nonetheless, new allegations seem to be emerging all over the world on a fairly regular basis. Until this point, China has been the most extreme example of punishment for bad behavior, and many of the other allegations have been under investigation for some time.
Glaxo has had a tough couple of years, with numerous pay-cuts for CEO Andrew Witty, declining sales, and job cuts. Though many of the factors causing these woes are not related to the corruption charges, having a bad reputation is obviously not good for business.