GSK’s Private Eyes to Be Tried in Secret

choi

(1) 中国将庭审葛兰素案美国人，禁止美官员旁听. VOA Chinese, July 4, 2014.
www.voachinese.com/content/officials-barred-20140704/1951319.html
("美国对此表示关注")

My comment: So is UK, because Mr Peter Humphrey is British and his China-born wife, an American citizen.

(2) 英媒：在华受审的英私人侦探抨击GSK. BBC Chinese, July 4, 2014.
www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/pres ... _press_review.shtml

Note:
(a) The BBC report is an abbreviated translation of

Tom Mitchell, GSK’s Private Investigator Thrust Into Spotlight. Financial Times, July 5, 2014
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eb93fdf2-0365-11e4-9195-00144feab7de.html

Quote:

In Beijing "Mr Humphrey, a British private investigator hired by GlaxoSmithKline to investigate whether a former Chinese employee was waging a smear campaign against the company, was asked to read a confession into what he was told would be a small police interrogation camera, according to people familiar with his case. Police informed him that it would help his situation. A month earlier Mr Humphrey and Yu Yingzeng, his American wife and business partner, had been arrested on charges of illegally purchasing private information and operating an illegal business. * * * Mr Humphrey instead found himself recording a confession that would later be broadcast across China.

"On Wednesday [July 2, 2014], Chinese authorities informed US consular authorities that the couple would be tried in secret next month, in a hearing closed to their family members and foreign diplomats. The US embassy in Beijing said on Friday it was 'concerned' that the trial would be closed, adding that diplomatic access to such hearings is guaranteed under a Sino-US treaty.

"Just days earlier [this June], GSK confirmed for the first time that it had asked Mr Humphrey and Ms Yu in April 2013 to establish who had planted a clandestine video camera in the bedroom of Mark Reilly, the UK pharmaceutical company’s former China head. Mr Reilly faces possible prosecution in the country on corruption charges. GSK also wanted the couple to establish whether its former China government relations director [Vivian SHI 该公司原中国政府事务总监施文] had orchestrated an alleged email 'smear campaign,' in which an anonymous whistleblower told regulators that fraudulent practices were rife at the company.

"Mr Humphrey and Ms Yu’s failure to unearth any real dirt on Ms Shi only adds to the mystery still surrounding the charges against them and why the trial will now be heard in secret. * * * Chinese authorities have never confirmed that the charges against the couple are related to their work for GSK. Not even Mr Humphrey and Ms Yu may know the full picture. According to people close to the family, the couple’s own [Chinese] lawyers have signed non-disclosure agreements with state prosecutors concerning certain aspects of the case. When contacted by the FT, the couple’s lawyers declined to comment.

(b) To read the Financial Times report, you will have to sign in. I find it is worthwhile for this report. But if you are unwilling, the quotation suffices.