Wal-Mart Buyer Accepts 120,000 RMB Bribe, Retail Business Bribes top 1,000,000RMB [Daily Economic News via Sina]

The other day, a Wal-Mart buyer who received a supply trade bribe was arrested by the Shenzhen prosecutor’s office.

The buyer had been with Wal-Mart for many years, revealed the “Daily Economic News”, making known for the first time a large scale bribery case.  The incident also airs Wal-Mart interior staff’s employment of “secret service” to monitor and investigate Wal-Mart staff.

Information from Shenzhen’s Futian police illustrates that the local police station has gathered two months worth of evidence to successfully uncover a 20,000 RMB bribery case.  At present the suspect as been arrested. 

In September, the local police station received the case from Wal-Mart’s investigations department reporting a Wal-Mart buyer and a Shandong egg supplier.  Wal-Mart buyer Liao Mou demanded 20,000 RMB from the egg supplier as an “entrance fee”. 

The police investigation discovered that last year Liao Mou indeed demanded 20,000 RMB from a Shandong egg supplier, having the money transferred to a far away relative’s bank account.  Moreover, one Wal-Mart staff also discovered that Liao Mou met a supplier in a park to receive a bank card with 100,000 RMB.

On October 15, police detained Liao Mou as a criminal.  On October 23, Liao Mou was arrested by the prosecutor’s office as a suspect in business bribery.

Wal-Mart’s public relations department staff told the “Daily Economic News” that honesty is Wal-Mart’s number one principle.  Wal-Mart welcomes the supply trade investigation and will work to create a series of mechanisms to prevent bribery cases from happening.  “The ways this incident was handled first gives a warning to employees and second gives the supply trade something to think about.”

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As Wal-Mart continues to push suppliers to the brink of death, more and more suppliers are opening up about their relationships with Wal-Mart.  The stories all contain one common denominator:  “It’s always hard to make money from Wal-Mart orders.” And while big brands like Proctor and Gamble can supply Wal-Mart at cost, smaller suppliers do so and “wait to die”.  In an article from Sinotoys.net, “Bo Lin” (an alias), a toy supplier for Wal-Mart, describes the woes of working with the giant.  Aside from Wal-Mart’s low cost bargaining tactics, Bo Lin also describes being bribed by Wal-Mart factory inspection officials to pass inspection, regardless of the circumstances in his factories.

“We’re a small enterprise.  Life and death can happen in a split second,” Bo Lin said great anguish.

Last month, a business owned by a friend of Bo Lin’s closed down.  That was a stationery processing plant with sales that surpassed 400 million [RMB].  Almost all the goods were supplied to Wal-Mart.  Bo Lin’s factory is also a Wal-Mart supplier.  “We all used to do business with Wal-Mart for the glory,” Bo Lin said describing the initial excitement of becoming a Wal-Mart supplier.

During our interview, Bo Lin repeated that sentence 5 times. 

But after 4 years of struggle within Wal-Mart’s supply chain, Bo Lin is determined to withdraw. “Four years is the cycle of death and rebirth”.  This is “established law” for all of Wal-Mart’s suppliers.  The difference is only whether to die or withdraw.

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