LONDON (Alliance News) - China has indicted a British-American couple for illegally obtaining private information of Chinese citizens. The couple, Peter William Humphrey, a 58-year-old British national, and his wife Yu Ying Zeng, a 61-year old American, were arrested in last year. They were hired by GlaxoSmithKline PLC China's Mark Reilly as private eyes in 2013.
Prosecutors in Shanghai have found that the couple illegally trafficked a huge amount of personal information on Chinese citizens to seek profits through a company called ChinaWhys Co Ltd, which was registered in 2004 in Shanghai.
The personal information traded by the couple included household registration details, background of family members, real estate, vehicles, call log and exit-entry records. The couple also obtained the information by means such as secret photography, infiltration or tailing after someone.
It is the first indictment Chinese prosecutors have announced on foreigners for illegal investigation.
The couple compiled so-called "reports" and sold them at high prices to their clients, most of which are China-based multinational corporations, including Glaxo's Chinese operations.
Humphrey said that in April 2013 he was contacted by Mark Reilly, then Glaxo China's general manager and Zhao Hongyan, its legal department director and was prepaid CNY100,000. Reilly asked him to find the informant who disclosed Glaxo China's bribery scandals to Chinese authorities and Glaxo's executives.
Humphrey said that after the investigation, he found the bribery claim was valid based on his work experience of about a dozen years. He felt he was "betrayed and used" and Glaxo China's suspicions about the informant was "unfounded."
Humphrey also admitted to having used illegal means to do his investigation, including buying others' information and tailing after them.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Glaxosmithkline (GSK)
