China deports British investigator and wife caught in GSK corruption case

17th Jun 2015 15:44

The British investigator linked to a corruption case involving GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been deported, along with his wife, by Chinese authorities, following his release from jail.Peter Humphrey and Yu Yingzend were put on a flight to London from Shanghai, after being incarcerated for illegally harvesting Chinese citizens' personal information."I am extremely glad that this ordeal will be over by this afternoon," their son told The Guardian.Humphrey was released from his two and a half year prison sentence seven months early, on grounds of health problems, while Yingzend was freed a month early from her two-year term.The couple's investigative firm, ChinaWhys, was first hired to look into scandal surrounding the pharmaceutical giant's China-based boss, before getting caught up in government investigations regarding alleged bribery.GSK was eventually fined 3bn yuan by a Chinese court in September, following a probe that spanned almost a year. The firm's former head of China operations, Mark Reilly, was also deported, while four other GSK executives were sentenced to between two and four years in prison, according to state media.