Amazon staff face bribery charges; company to probe
Amazon on Monday said it has zero tolerance for bribery and will investigate all allegations of corruption fully.
The e-commerce giant was responding to a report by a media platform that alleged that the firm has begun an internal investigation into charges of graft.
Amazon has initiated a probe into the conduct of its legal representatives in India, according to a report by media platform The Morning Context.
The report said this investigation comes on the back of a whistleblower complaint, alleging that certain payments made by Amazon in legal fees have been funnelled into bribes by one or more of its legal representatives.
It has been reported that the company has sent a senior employee on leave. The report cited two individuals who work with Amazon’s in-house legal team.
“We have zero tolerance for corruption. We take allegations of improper actions seriously, investigate them fully, and take appropriate action,” said an Amazon spokesperson.
Citing sources, The Morning Context report said Amazon is investigating whether legal fees financed by it was used for bribing government officials. However, it didn’t identify the government officials. Amazon has placed Rahul Sundaram, a senior corporate counsel, on leave, according to the report.
The development comes months after a Reuters report in February, citing internal documents that suggested Amazon had circumvented local laws on FDI in e-commerce.
Amazon is also the subject of an ongoing antitrust investigation in India. Last month, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Karnataka High Court’s order which declined to stop the investigation initiated by the Competition Commission of India against Amazon, Flipkart for alleged anti-competitive practices.
Confederation of All India Traders, which represents 70 million traders, has demanded a CBI inquiry on the report about the conduct of Amazon’s legal representatives in India. CAIT has sent a communication to Union minister Piyush Goyal.
The probe comes after a whistleblower complaint, alleging that payments by Amazon in legal fees were funnelled into bribes by its legal representatives