Tencent exec Zhang Feng revealed to be under investigation for personal corruption allegations

Tencent was put in the spotlight after one of its executives was reported to be under investigation. The Chinese authorities are probing Zhang Feng since early 2020 for corruption and his ties to a disgraced deputy police chief.

The allegations against Zhang Feng

As per The Wall Street Journal, the Tencent executive has been held by the law enforcement officers as they continue the crackdown on a high-profile corruption case that also involves former top police officials. It was also mentioned that Zhang Feng is also facing a probe for the unauthorized sharing of personal data that was collected through Tencent’s WeChat app.

China is on the move to clean up its global computer network by eliminating home-grown internet platforms that have been caught or have violated anti-trust and data privacy rules.

This is being done to prevent any more violations regarding customer data protection rules. More incidents like this will just add more pressure on the local tech companies that are already facing heightened regulatory scrutiny.

In any case, the Chinese investigators are trying to figure out what kind of data that Zhang Feng may have shared with Sun Lijun, the former vice minister of public security. Sun is being investigated by China for unrevealed violations related to Communist Party rules, and Zhang was suspected of turning over unknown WeChat data to him, Reuters reported.

Chinese authorities have yet to release any official report on Sun’s investigations, after 10 months. The sole statement about his fate was an April 20 statement soon after his detention, where his downfall was cited as “an inevitable result of his … neglecting the party’s political disciplines and political rules over a long period of time”.

Tencent’s takes action and admits to the investigations

As the probe continues, Tencent’s shares reportedly plummeted 0.5% before the two-day break due to the Lunar New Year public holiday. But even so, the tech company’s shares soared in the last 12 months by 85%. With the results, Tencent is now the world’s sixth most valuable company before Facebook.

Tencent admitted that Zhang Feng is under investigation for personal misdeeds but did not give any details about it. This executive joined the firm in 2018 after working in a Communist Party Central Committee division that manages appointments of top officials.

Tencent also fired at least 100 employees as the company starts cleaning up its offices and getting rid of people involved in bribery and embezzlement cases. Some staff may have worked for Zhang as well.