Former Foxconn employees accused of accepting over $5 million in bribes

Chinese manufacturing giant Foxconn, which has more than one million employees, is the biggest electronics maker in the world. The company builds many of the popular electronics devices available in stores around the globe, including Apple’s iOS devices. However, Foxconn has not been running a smooth operation, as it had to deal with several scandals. After being heavily criticized for labor practices in the past, the company is now part of a different investigation which revealed that several former employees allegedly took bribes totaling more than $5 million from component suppliers in return for preferential treatment.

Taiwan prosecutors on Wednesday indicted five former Foxconn Technology Group employees for allegedly accepting bribes of more than US$5 million from component suppliers, in the latest blow for the manufacturer of iPhones and other electronic devices. After an investigation that lasted over a year, the prosecutors alleged that the five people, who all worked at a component-procurement unit at Foxconn, received kickbacks from 10 suppliers in the form of “entertainment and service fees” between 2009 and 2011, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Huang Mou-hsin said. Mr. Huang alleged that, in return, they assured those suppliers that they would be selected and offered them better pricing or higher procurement volumes. He also alleged that those suppliers enjoyed faster payment from Foxconn compared with other suppliers.