Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo reported a suspected bribery incident of one of its staff members. The staff member allegedly committed the crime with a manager of digital advertising firm Cue Holdings. It was also revealed that the two personalities had direct knowledge of the crime.
Pinduoduo suspected bribery between one of its employees and a manager of digital advertising firm Cue Holdings. The company then reported the incident to the Shanghai police claiming that the manager bribed its staff member over a four billion yuan advertising budget in 2019. The alleged bribe was valued at two million yuan and discovered after an internal review was conducted by Pinduoduo. Both Cue and Pinduoduo are based in Shanghai.
Senior executives for KKR, a company that holds 66.7 percent of Cue Holdings, was reported to bee aware of the suspected bribery and are conducting independent inquiries ono the matter. The prime suspect of the bribery was revealed to be Cue manager Pan Kai, while the Pinduoduo manager was named as Chen Ruikan. Sources claimed that the two personalities refused to be identified and are not authorized by their respective companies to converse with media regarding the issue.
Cue then spoke with The Star and confirmed the ongoing bribery case. It was revealed that the matter is currently under investigation and that the Pinduoduo manager was said to have been taking bribes. However, Cue noted that the case involved an ex-employee of the company and that the said manager had already left Cue Holdings. The company further explained that it did not condone violative actions of compliance requirements.
According to a spokeswoman with Pinduduo, the company follows stringent anti-corruption and whistleblower measures and continues to work proactively with the Shanghai authorities. She noted that the company reports suspected corruption cases as well.
KKR then revealed that it is aware of the allegations but refuses to comment on the issue pending the investigation. The firm claimed that it is also committed to observing robust compliance with its company culture laid out in its portfolio companies and takes the issues related to the case very seriously.
Last year, Cue appointed Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse to manage a New York initial public offering that would be finalized later this year. The deal was said to be valued at 300 million to 400 million USD.
Since the issue was looked into, Reuters allegedly sent anonymous letters to KKR executives and Ming Lu, the head of Asia-Pacific, and regional compliance head Kapil Kirpalani regarding the matter. Kirpalani allegedly replied that KKR continues to assist the authorities and aid them in the comprehensive investigation to arrive at a verdict soon.
