GSK accused of playing down bribery allegations

Mr Humphrey said the company had assured him the allegations were false, but that his own inquiries suggested that wrongdoing had taken place.

In a note from prison, seen by the newspaper, he said: “Only after we completed our background investigation on the whistleblower did they reveal the details to us. I realised we had been cheated because the allegations looked real to us.”

GSK's bribery scandal in China took on a fresh twist this week after the company admitted that in addition to bribery allegations, its bosses had been sent a covert video of Mr Reilly in bed with his Chinese girlfriend.

Mr Humphrey's investigation centred on Vivian Shi, a Chinese executive who had left GSK in December 2012, though he failed to establish whether she was behind the video.

Months after Mr Humphrey began his inquiry, four of GSK's Chinese sales executives were arrested by Beijing authorities accused of acting like "criminal godfathers".

The company subsequently admitted that it had uncovered evidence that appeared to support the bribery allegations.

Mr Reilly, who left China last July shortly before the scandal broke, has returned to the country to "help" police with their inquiries and is currently under a travel ban. He was later accused of ordering his sales executives to carry out the alleged bribery, and authorities continue to investigate the company.

GSK has said it hired Mr Humphrey's firm "to conduct an investigation following a serious breach of privacy and security related to the company’s China general manager...and not to investigate the substance of the allegations of misconduct made by the whistleblower."

It said its investigations into the allegations made in early 2013 "did not find evidence to substantiate the specific allegations made in the whistleblower emails".

It added that it had “committed significant resources to find out what happened in China”, including an independent legal review. The company is also co-operating fully with the ongoing bribery investigation by Chinese authorities.

A spokesman said: “We have zero tolerance for any kind of corruption in our business and … we take action against any breaches.”

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