Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline disclosed Tuesday that the company is facing a “formal criminal investigation” by an agency of the British government.

GSK (NYSE: GSK) already is under serious fire in China.

In a brief notice headlined “Serious Fraud Office Investigation” on its corporate website, GSK acknowledged the probe and said it was cooperating.

The company “has today been informed by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) that it has opened a formal criminal investigation into the Group’s commercial practices,” GSK reported.

“GSK is committed to operating its business to the highest ethical standards and will continue to cooperate fully with the SFO.”

V.A. Whyte, the company secretary, made the statement.

The company declined further comment.

The BBC in the U.K. reported that various allegations made against GSK in China and other countries are proved then the company “may have violated both the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”

The British Serious Fraud Office issued a statement confirming that it had “opened a criminal investigation into the commercial practices of GlaxoSmithKline plc and its subsidiaries,” the BBC noted. The Office noted that “whistleblowers are valuable sources of information” and that it is seeking “approaches from anyone with inside information on all our cases, including this one,” the BBC added.

The BBC has reported in detail about bribery linked to GSK in Poland where a sales representative allegedly paid doctors to prescribe the company’s asthma drug Seretide. The company said it learned of the allegations in 2011 and found evidence of inappropriate communications by a single employee. It says that employee was reprimanded and disciplined.

China Investigation

The latest development adds to mounting woes for GSK regarding bribery and other allegations.

Two weeks ago, Chinese police accused a British executive of London-based of leading a sprawling scheme to bribe doctors and hospitals to use its drugs.

The announcement was the first time a foreign employee in China of GSK  was accused in the investigation announced last July, The Associated Press reported. It highlighted the widespread use of payments to doctors and hospitals by sellers of drugs and medical equipment in a poorly funded health system that Chinese leaders have promised to improve.

Mark Reilly, is accused of operating a “massive bribery network,” said a police official. The case had been handed over to prosecutors for formal indictment.

The annual bonus for Andrew Witty, GSK’s CEO, was cut some 12 percent due to the China allegations.

GSK sales have fallen as much as 61 percent in China, the company has acknowledged.

Earnings overall dropped 18 percent in its most recent quarter, the company disclosed on April 30.

Other Allegations

More recently, bribery allegations surfaced in Iraq, Poland, Lebanon and Jordan.

GSK issued a statement in April  reiterating it has “zero tolerance for unethical or illegal behavior” and says 48 employees were fired in 2013. 

The company said it had started looking into the conduct of “a small number of individuals” in December in Lebanon and Jordan. It says the investigation is ongoing.

GSK operates its North American headquarters in RTP.

[GSK ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of GSK stories as reported in WRALTechWire.]