SHANGHAI, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Britain's GlaxoSmithKline PLC said on Monday it had re-hired Vivian Shi, a formerChinese government affairs executive at the firm who was thefocus of an internal probe into information leaks allegingbribery at the company's China unit.
GSK was fined $489 million last year after a Chinese policeinvestigation concluded the firm had paid doctors to prescribeits drugs, underlining steep compliance risks for firms in theworld's second largest economy.
Shi was named in the internal investigation carried out onbehalf of GSK China into a series of emails alleging bribery bythe British firm, and which were sent to Chinese governmentagencies and senior GSK staff, according to a June 2013 summaryof the investigation seen by Reuters.
The investigation did not prove Shi, who had left her job in2012 and before the bribery investigation came to light, wasbehind the emails.
GSK declined to comment on specific questions about thecase.
"We can confirm we have rehired Vivian," the firm said in anemailed statement. "We are not going to comment further on anindividual employee."
"Vivian herself is not available for comment," it added. Shicould not be reached separately for comment.
China is the world's second largest drug market by sales,where spending is set to hit as much as $185 billion by 2018,according to estimates by IMS Health.
The June 2013 report into the information leaks was compiledby ChinaWhys, a risk management consultancy run by Britishinvestigator Peter Humphrey and his American wife Yu Yingzeng,who were arrested in China for illegally obtaining privaterecords of Chinese citizens and selling the information toclients, which included GSK.
The couple were released from prison and deported in June.
GSK apologised last year after it was found guilty ofbribing doctors, saying it had "learned from its mistakes" andwould "work hard to regain the trust of the Chinese people". (Reporting by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Miral Fahmy)