CHINESE authorities have indicted a husband-and-wife team of GlaxoSmithKline investigators on charges of illegally obtaining and selling private information, state media reported today. 

British investigator Peter Humphrey and his US citizen wife Yingzeng Yu were charged in a Shanghai court.

The pair are part of an investigatory industry that helps corporate clients screen potential partners and employees or watch for embezzlement and other employee misconduct.

Their arrest last year coincided with a Chinese investigation of accusations that GlaxoSmithKline paid bribes to doctors and officials to use its medications.

Glaxo said it had hired Ms Yu and Mr Humphrey last year to investigate a security breach involving a top manager.

The couple, who ran Shanghai firm ChinaWhys Ltd, were accused of illegally selling a “huge amount” of personal information on Chinese citizens.

This included home addresses, information about family members, details about real estate and vehicles and records of travellers entering and leaving the country.

Prosecutors said that they obtained such information by illegally buying it from others, as well as with hidden cameras or by following people.

They would sell the reports to clients that were mainly transnational companies in China such as GSK China.

Mr Humphrey said that he had been contacted in April 2013 by then GSK China manager Mark Reilly, who wanted him to find out who had leaked allegations of bribery at the firm to Chinese authorities and senior company executives.

British citizen Mr Reilly is at the centre of a major investigation into corruption in China’s medical industry.

He has been accused of leading a scheme to bribe doctors and hospitals to use GSK drugs. His case has been turned over to prosecutors.

Mr Humphrey claimed to have found out that the bribery allegations were true and that, if he had known earlier, he would not have carried out the investigation.

He said that he felt “betrayed and used” by the pharmaceutical firm.

The British embassy in Beijing has told Chinese authorities that it would like to attend the trial, which the court has said will be closed.

A trial date has not yet been announced.