《華爾街日報》否認行賄中國官員

News Corp has revealed that employees at the Wall Street Journal’s Chinese news bureau were accused of bribing Chinese officials for information but that an investigation by auditors and lawyers found no evidence to support the claims.

新聞集團(News Corp)表示，《華爾街日報》(Wall Street Journal)中國分社的員工被指向中國官員行賄以獲取信息，但由審計人員和律師進行的調查沒有發現任何證據支持這一指控。

The announcement comes as the US Department of Justice conducts a separate investigation into potential criminal conduct at News Corp related to the phone hacking scandal at UK newspapers.

新聞集團發表上述聲明之際，美國司法部還展開了另外一項調查，以判斷該公司在其旗下英國報紙的電話竊聽醜聞中是否存在犯罪行爲。

According to the Wall Street Journal, the justice department opened a foreign corrupt practices investigation into the Chinese allegations last year. The US newspaper first reported the case yesterday.

根據《華爾街日報》的報道，美國司法部去年對其中國部門是否涉嫌海外腐敗行爲展開了調查。這家美國報紙昨日首先報道了該案。

Its report says the justice department informed News Corp in early 2012 that it had received information from an unidentified person it described as a whistleblower, who accused one or more employees of the Wall Street Journal of providing gifts to Chinese government officials.

報道稱，美國司法部在2012年初告知新聞集團，一位告密者匿名舉報《華爾街日報》的一至多位員工向中國政府官員贈送了禮物。

The company was not told the identity of the accuser, or whether the person had worked inside the newspaper.

美國司法部沒有告訴新聞集團這位告密者的身份，也沒有說此人是否是該報的內部員工。

US foreign corrupt practices investigations are unusual in that the accused company typical conducts its own investigation, which is then presented to the justice department.

美國展開海外賄賂行爲調查非同尋常，因爲被指控的公司通常會自己展開調查，然後將結果呈送給司法部。

News Corp’s Dow Jones subsidiary said that “after a thorough review of our operations in China conducted by outside lawyers and auditors, we have not found any evidence of impropriety”.

新聞集團旗下的道瓊斯公司(Dow Jones)表示：“在外部律師和審計人員對我們的中國業務進行全面審查後，我們沒有發現任何違規證據。”

It added that Dow Jones was “proud of our important and impactful coverage coming out of China and regret that some unknown source has sought to taint that work”.

它補充稱，道瓊斯“對我們源自中國的重要而有力的報道感到自豪，對於不知什麼人試圖抹黑這種工作感到遺憾”。

The accusations concerned stories relating to Chongqing, the power base of Bo Xilai, the disgraced Chinese official.

此次指控與其對重慶的報道有關。倒臺的中國官員薄熙來曾主政重慶。

Mr Bo was a charismatic and ambitious Communist politician who was purged in March before the party’s once-in-a-decade leadership transition.

薄熙來是一位頗具魅力和抱負的中共官員。他於去年3月，在中共十年一次的領導人換屆之前遭到整肅。

Subsequent coverage of the Bo scandal, and a growing wave of revelations about the financial dealings and power struggles of the Communist party’s ruling elite, have resulted in an increasingly difficult relationship between foreign media groups and the government in Beijing.

外國媒體集團隨後報道了薄熙來的醜聞，並陸續披露中共執政精英們的商業交易和權力鬥爭，這導致它們與中國政府的關係日趨緊張。

In January a correspondent for the New York Times, which has reported on business dealings and financial assets of family members of Wen Jiabao, China’s outgoing premier, was forced to leave the mainland because authorities had not renewed his journalist visa.

今年1月，《紐約時報》(New York Times)的一位記者被迫離開中國大陸，因爲有關部門沒有給該記者簽發新簽證。該報此前報道過中國前總理溫家寶家人經營的生意和金融資產情況。

News Corp still faces a US investigation related to possible criminal conduct at its UK subsidiaries, including phone hacking and bribery.

新聞集團仍面臨美國對其英國子公司可能的犯罪行爲的調查，包括電話竊聽和賄賂行爲。

News Corp said: “In regards to UK matters, we’ve delivered on our commitment to uncover wrongdoing and feel confident about the work we’ve done to put us on the right path, including sweeping changes to our global internal controls, compliance programmes and ethics requirements.”

新聞集團表示：“就英國問題而言，我們承諾揭露不當行爲，並相信我們所做的工作會讓我們走上正軌，包括全面改變我們的全球內部控制、合規計劃和道德要求。”

The justice department did not respond to requests for comment.

美國司法部沒有迴應記者要求置評的請求。