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A Shanghai court has sentenced two foreign risk consultants to prison
on charges of illegally obtaining personal information about Chinese
citizens in a one-day trial that is part of a high- profile corruption
probe targeting GlaxoSmithKline, the giant international
pharmaceutical and health care firm. The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate
People's Court announced the verdict late Friday through its official
microblog: Yu Yingzeng and Peter Humphrey —partners in business and
marriage — were sentenced to two years and 2 ½ respectively. The
presiding judge said Humphrey could be deported, but did not say
whether the same fate awaits Yu, an American citizen born in China.
The couple ran a risk consultancy firm called ChinaWhys, specializing
in corporate fraud. Prosecutors accused the couple of breaking China's
privacy laws, which ban the purchase and sale of personal data such as
residency information, phone records and overseas travel records.
Bought personal information In court, Humphrey and Yu admitted they
bought personal information about Chinese citizens from three Chinese
companies. But they insisted the information was used to prove fraud
and embezzlement, and made up only a small part of the reports they
compiled for their clients. "The most important part of those reports
was investigation and analysis," Humphrey said in court, according to
official proceedings issued live on the microblog. Both defendants
said they investigated mergers, did background checks on partners or
potential hires, and looked into corrupt practices on behalf of their
clients. GlaxoSmithKline probed Their arrests last year coincided with
a corruption probe of one of the couple's newest clients,
British-based GlaxoSmithKline. The company was not mentioned directly
during the Humphrey-Yu trial, however. In his closing argument,
Humphrey maintained that the couple's actions were in accord with the
Chinese government's own campaign against corruption. "Humphrey did
put up a very spirited and effective self- defense, going so far to
say that his career in China is comparable to the 'graft busters,' the
anti-corruption operation launched by the party and government," said
Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the University of Hong Kong's China
Studies Center. Lam said it was clear from the start that the couple's
line of defense would not avert a guilty verdict, though they both
"have been very cooperative with the authorities from the start.
"There is also the fact that they are foreigners," Lam added. "So even
though the Chinese have insisted on the independence of the judiciary
in China, they do take into consideration China's relations with other
countries." Humphrey and Yu have 10 days to appeal their conviction,
but any reversal by the court is considered unlikely.
Reuters
