据两位直接知情人士透露，中国电商企业拼多多的一名员工涉嫌接受数字营销公司开域集团(Cue Holdings)一名经理的贿赂，拼多多已向上海警方报案。
其中一位消息人士称，拼多多怀疑开域一名销售经理去年为赢得与一项40亿元人民币广告预算有关的项目，向拼多多的一位经理行贿。行贿总额超过200万元人民币。
据路透看到的一封电子邮件和上述同一信源，持有开域集团66.7%股权的KKR高层已得知此事，并正在自行展开调查。
两位消息人士称，涉事的开域经理名为潘凯，拼多多的经理名为陈瑞侃。消息人士没有对媒体发表看法的授权，因此不愿具名。
在回复置评请求的电子邮件，开域集团表示：“确实有一个案件正在调查中，涉及一名拼多多员工受贿，其中还涉及一名已离职的开域集团前雇员。”
该公司以案件正在调查为由拒绝发表进一步评论。
开域集团表示，绝不容忍任何违反合规要求的行为。
无法联系潘陈二人置评。
因案件正在调查中，拼多多的发言人拒绝置评。
“我们有严格的反腐和举报措施，将积极与当局配合，上报任何涉嫌腐败的案例，”她说。
KKR表示已经知道这些指控，但鉴于当局的调查，不宜进一步置评。
“KKR致力于在我们所投资的公司中形成强大的合规文化，并非常认真地对待这些指控，”该公司称。
上海警方未回复路透请求置评的传真。
China's Pinduoduo alerts police to suspected bribery involving Cue manager
Chinese e-commerce firm Pinduoduo Inc has referred a case of suspected bribery of one of its staff by a manager at digital advertising firm Cue Holdings to the Shanghai police, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Pinduoduo suspects a Cue sales manager bribed a Pinduoduo manager to win work related to a 4 billion yuan ($565 million) advertising budget last year, one of the sources said. The bribe totalled over 2 million yuan ($282,346.30), the source said.
Senior executives for KKR, which controls 66.7% of Cue, are aware of the issue and are making their own inquiries, according to an email exchange reviewed by Reuters and the same source.
The Cue manager involved was Pan Kai, while the Pinduoduo manager’s name was Chen Ruikan, the two sources said. They declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.
In an emailed response to a request for comment, Cue said: “There is indeed a case under investigation about a Pinduoduo staff member involved in taking bribes, which also involves an ex-employee of Cue Holdings who has left the company.”
The company declined to comment further, citing the investigation.
Cue said it did not condone any violations of compliance requirements.
Pan and Chen could not be reached for comment.
A spokeswoman for Pinduoduo declined to comment while an investigation is underway.
We have stringent anti-corruption and whistleblower measures in place, and work proactively with the authorities to report any suspected corruption cases,” she said.
KKR said it was aware of the allegations but that it was not appropriate to comment further given the authorities’ investigation.
“KKR is committed to a strong compliance culture within our portfolio companies and takes these allegations very seriously,” the firm said.
Shanghai police did not respond to a faxed request for comment.
INTERNAL BUSINESS REVIEW
Cue last year appointed Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse to lead work on a New York initial public offering expected later this year, of between $300 million and $400 million, Reuters has previously reported.
Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
Pinduoduo referred the matter to the Shanghai police in December after an internal business review, the two people said. Cue and Pinduoduo are based in Shanghai.
Emails seen by Reuters and sent anonymously in early April to KKR executives including Ming Lu, head of Asia-Pacific, and regional compliance head Kapil Kirpalani, outlined the claims of wrongdoing.
In a reply on April 4, also reviewed by Reuters, Kirpalani acknowledged receipt of the email and said that the allegations were “taken very seriously by KKR.” He asked for the continued assistance of the anonymous writer to comprehensively investigate the matters.
Lu and Kirpalani declined to comment via a KKR spokeswoman.
KKR formed Cue in early 2018 from four separate firms, with the aim of building a one-stop digital marketing company in China. The private equity firm has three representatives on Cue’s five-member board.
