Peter Humphrey trial: GlaxoSmithKline to blame, says son

The trial of Peter Humphrey, a British corporate investigator, and his wife Yu Yingzeng will both open and close on Friday at Shanghai's Intermediate People's Court.

But whatever verdict the court hands down, it will bring a year in limbo to an end for Harvey Humphrey, their 19-year-old son.

His parents were arrested last July, the collateral damage of a police investigation into GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the pharmaceutical giant.

They have spent the last year in a detention centre in Shanghai, charged with "illegally collecting information" on GSK's behalf.

Harvey was left alone to fend for himself, dropping out of university after only two weeks and living in an apartment in Redhill, Surrey, living off an emergency bank account that his parents set up three years ago and going on long bike rides to take his mind off the worry.

But, he said, it is not the Chinese system which is to blame for what happened. "I do not feel different at all about China. I would not blame this on China. The cause is not the Chinese, it is GSK," he said, in an interview on the eve of the trial.

^{Harvey with his parents Peter Humphrey and Yu Yingzeng, who will face trial in a Shanghai court on Friday}

For years, he had been aware that his parents, seasoned corporate investigators, had been operating in a grey area to collect their research.

"I always knew this (their arrest) was possible," he said. "I know ChinaWhys (their business) did work that other investigation companies would not do. They were very detailed in their work."

GSK hired Mr Humphrey and his wife in March 2013 for "Project Scorpion", an investigation into 49-year-old Vivian Shi, a former employee that it suspected of a smear campaign against its China boss, Mark Reilly.

Ms Shi, whose father was a high-ranking government official at Shanghai's Health bureau, had been fired the previous December for allegedly falsifying her travel expenses.

But GSK suspected she was also to blame for 23 anonymous emails to various Chinese government offices alleging that bribery was rife in the company and endorsed by the senior management.

GSK turned to Mr Humphrey and his wife after one particular email, to the company's main board in London, featured a professionally edited sex tape of Mr Reilly and his Chinese girlfriend, Wu Wan, a secretary at CCT, a travel agency used by GSK.

Mr Reilly suspected that someone had slipped into his apartment, in a guarded compound in central Shanghai, and installed the secret camera while he was on a business trip. By the time the sex tape had been emailed to London, the camera was gone.

But GSK allegedly denied to Mr Humphrey and his wife that any of the allegations of bribery in the whistleblower's emails were true.

"They said the allegations were untrue," said Harvey. "Then two weeks later they said actually these things did happen. My father would have changed the conditions of the investigation if he had known. He would have investigated the allegations instead of this one person. I do not think as an investigator you would have taken the risk of investigating a whistleblower before you investigated the allegations."

GSK has insisted that an initial investigation into the claims "did not find evidence to substantiate the specific allegations made in the whistleblower emails".

"When I saw my dad last Friday, I mentioned GSK once. I mentioned Reilly to him once. He expressed a very low opinion of Reilly."

Mr Humphrey and his wife began piecing together Ms Shi's network, speaking to her former colleagues, and using their contacts to find out about her government and police connections.

In their agreement with GSK, they showed they were aware of the potential risk and stated that they intended to stay within the bounds of Chinese law.

"Please note that this is a period of serious political tension, with a tightening of control over information flow," they wrote. "We have seen sudden regulatory restrictions on the availability of certain documentary data in recent months. We would make our best efforts to complete the assignment by gathering all available information through legal means".

But shortly after their initial report was finished in June and handed to GSK, the couple were arrested. At the time, Harvey was in Hong Kong, doing a summer job after finishing school. "On July 10, I realised they were not answering their phones. They have two phones each and three were off and one of my dad's was ringing out," he said.

"It was a Friday and then I had a tense weekend. I changed locations. I did not want the Chinese to know where I was. I phoned our ayi (housekeeper) in Beijing and she was very panicky. She said the police were looking for me too and she was extremely scared."

Within a few days, consular officials had located Harvey's parents in detention. Despite some concerns that he might also be the target of the police, Harvey said he remained calm.

"I did not know how long it would take. I thought they would be out in two months. So I was not that worried. I just had to wait."

A year later, he is now hoping for leniency in court. "I think they are going for a humane approach, a change of tack, which is a very good sign. I think for the Chinese they see it is in the interests of both sides that my parents are let go."