Uber’s India plans may be hit amid Asia probe
BENGALURU: Uber Technologies Inc’s latest review of its Asian operations is likely to be a major distraction for the company’s Indian unit even as the parent grapples with an exodus of executives and wages bruising market-share battles with taxi aggregators such as Lyft and Ola in key markets.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Uber is facing a US federal probe to determine whether the cab-hailing company broke laws against overseas bribery. The report also said Uber had initiated a review of its Asian operations while notifying US officials about payments made by company staff in Indonesia.
The review of its Asian operations includes countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea, with Uber specifically looking into roles played by former Uber executives such as Eric Alexander, who used to head the company’s Asia Pacific operations until recently. Alexander was fired from Uber earlier this year after media reports emerged that he and some other Uber executives had accessed the medical records of a woman who was raped by an Uber driver in 2014 in Delhi.
According to two people familiar with Uber India’s operations, the company is likely to probe further into the matter of the rape victim’s medical records and look into potentially problematic business dealings that Alexander may have had in connection with the case.
Uber’s law firm O’Melveny & Myers Llp is looking into this matter as part of the broader review of the Asia operations.
The company is also probing whether other executives in India, besides Alexander, had acted improperly in the matter of the rape victim. If the probe finds that other executives in India were also involved, it may lead to a shake-up within the ranks of Uber India, the two people mentioned above said. Both of them requested anonymity as the matter is confidential and they are not authorised to speak to reporters.
“This matter will continue to be a major distraction for Uber in the foreseeable future. It’s not going to go away anytime soon. In fact, this is just the beginning,” said one of the two people mentioned above.
Uber executives didn’t respond to phone calls, emails and text messages. Uber’s spokespeople in India were unavailable over the phone; their phones were switched off through the day .