LONDON/BEIJING, June 18 (Reuters) - A British corporateinvestigator freed from a Chinese jail last week has accusedofficials there of deliberately withholding medical treatment totry to force him to confess to a role in a scandal involvingdrugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK).
Peter Humphrey and his American wife Yu Yingzeng returned toBritain on Wednesday evening after being sentenced in August forillegally obtaining private records of Chinese citizens andselling the information to clients, including GSK.
Their case unfolded alongside a Chinese investigation of GSKthat led to a $489 million fine and has been held up as anexample of the potential risks faced by foreigners gatheringinformation in China.
"We arrive here with a heavy toll on our health," Humphreysaid in comments emailed to Reuters via a family friend. "I havea prostate tumour and Ying has kidney disease.
Humphrey, who has disputed allegations of wrongdoing, saidduring his time in jail, prison officers deliberately obstructedhis requests for the appropriate medical attention.
"Every week in captivity I raised requests for the next stepin the medical process," he said. "I was always refused on thegrounds that I had not signed an admission of crime.
"Neither I nor Ying have ever admitted any guilt as charged.We were not guilty of the offence with which we were charged andconvicted but my health was held hostage to signing such aconfession."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said thatHumphrey's allegations about mistreatment were "not true".
"The relevant Chinese authorities acted in accordance withthe law and guaranteed his rights," Lu told reporters at a dailynews briefing.
Asked about Humphrey's claims of a forced confession, Lusaid, "I am astonished about this. It seems that his stance wasdifferent before and after."
Humphrey and Yu, who ran risk consultancy ChinaWhys, hadbeen asked by GSK to compile a report into the origins of a sexvideo involving the drug company's former China head, MarkReilly, which had been sent to senior executives at GSK alongwith anonymous emails alleging corruption.
At the time, a GSK spokesman confirmed the video existed butdid not comment on how it related to the alleged briberyscandal. He also said GSK, Britain's largest pharmaceuticalfirm, had hired ChinaWhys to investigate the video. (Reporting by Kate Holton in London and Ben Blanchard and JohnRuwitch in Beijing; Editing by Louise Ireland and Andrew Osborn)
Glaxosmithkline (GSK)