Rumor: Former Alibaba VP Sentenced in Bribery Case
Bianews, 6/12/14
According to a leaked internal email, a former VP at Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group has been convicted of taking RMB 2.6 mln in bribes and sentenced to 8.5 years in prison.
The employee, surnamed Wang, was the VP of human resources at Alibaba Group and the former director of human resources at Alibaba's C2C e-commerce site Taobao. According to the email, from 2010 to 2012, Wang violated Alibaba's regular procurement processes and supplier policies by taking advantage of his decision making power to hire his former classmate, surnamed Li, for more than 40 projects, including annual parties, employee weddings, and publicity videos, in exchange for a large sum of cash.
In light of the transgressions, Alibaba fired Wang and cancelled all of his share options.
In addition to internal disciplinary procedures, Alibaba also reported the case to the authorities. In October 2013, Wang was detained by police, and in May 2014 a court in Hangzhou found Wang guilty of abusing his position at the company to take RMB 2.6 mln in bribes, and sentenced him to 8.5 years in prison. Additionally, Wang's associate Li was sentenced to 4 years in prison.
Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, please see "Alibaba Investigates Taobao Staff Bribes," MD 5/07/12 issue.
Keywords: scandal e-commerce Taobao Internet C2C Alibaba Group
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