BEIRUT: British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is investigating claims that its employees are involved in bribery in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Poland, Britain's Mail Online said Wednesday.
It said Glaxo was to face a criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
The report quoted investigators as saying the company used hundreds of middlemen to bribe doctors with money and even sexual favours provided by prostitutes, in order to sway them into buying its drugs.
It said SFO was known to be scrutinising Glaxo but announced its decision to launch a formal criminal investigation late last night.
According to the report, the fraud office said it was probing Glaxo’s "commercial practices," understood to be a reference to allegations of bribery in China and several other countries.
The pharmaceuticals firm, one two British drug giants alongside AstraZeneca, became embroiled in a scandal last year when Chinese officials accused it of operating a vast bribery network, the Mail Online said.
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