Beijing: A top executive of Chinese-commerce giant Alibaba group has been arrested over allegations of bribery and corruption relating to his previous employer Tencent, stated official media reports. Liu Chunning, Vice president of Alibaba group was detained by Shenzhen police in late June, state-run Beijing Times reported on Friday. There have been rumours that Liu was taken into custody by police on June 22 due to allegations by his former employer, Tencent Inc, that Liu participated in bribery during his time working at Tencent, state-run China.org.cn reported. Alibaba group has not responded to the news.
A spokesman for Tencent last night told the media that the company found out its video production team was involved in serious corruption issues over the past two years during a routine audit last year. Tencent reported its findings to the police, and several of its employees, former employees and service provider employees were subsequently arrested.
The spokesman added that about five or six people were taken into custody and one individual was charged in a case involving 100,000 yuan (USD16,110). In response to questions about why Liu was brought back into the mess after having left Tencent two years ago, Tencent's spokesman said that the audit, reporting to the police, and the police investigation and evidence collection process all needed time to finish. Liu joined Alibaba in August 2013. Before that, he worked for Tencent as a senior executive for nearly 10 years. His last post before leaving the company was as general manager of Tencent's online video department and head of digital entertainment.
He has been arrested for corruption and commercial bribery related to Tencent's video copyright purchases while he managed the video division.
