Tencent fired more than 100 employees over bribery and corruption last year
Tencent continues to fight corruption within the company. The Chinese gaming and tech giant has fired more than 100 employees over bribery and other violations, also reporting some of them to the police.
- Tencent issued a statement on WeChat on January 16, saying that it recorded more than 70 corruption cases in 2022 (via Reuters).
- As a result, over 100 employees were fired for violating law and internal policies. Bribery, embezzlement and collusion are cited among the reasons.
- On top of that, Tencent banned 23 companies from doing business with it, according to South China Morning Post.
- The company also reported more than 10 people to authorities. Two of them, Zhang Meng and Li Zengwang, were sentenced to three and two years in prison, respectively, as a result of the company’s anti-corruption campaign.
- “There is an increase in the number of cases and people involved this year as compared with 2021,” the statement reads. “Tencent’s anti-cheating investigation department has taken stronger measures against these internal issues such as corruption and cheating.”
- To clarify, the Chinese tech giant publicized more than 50 corruption cases, fired around 70 people, and blocked 13 companies in 2021.
This comes just weeks after Tencent co-founder and CEO Pony Ma told staff that the company was mired in corruption, accusing some employees of “chilling on weekends” and spending too much money on user acquisition for hastily released games.
South China Morning Post also noted that anti-corruption campaigns are common practice among Chinese companies. Other firms include Alibaba and Meituan. The latter, for example, reported 47 employees and 60 third-party partners to authorities over bribes and embezzlement.
In other news about Tencent, the company’s stock has increased almost 100% since October when shares hit the 5-year low. This is the result of the Chinese government easing pressure on domestic tech firms.
