Google – AFP, 18 August 2013
 |
Illustration:
The entrance to the JP Morgan Chase World Headquarters
on Park Avenue in July
13, 2012 (AFP, Timothy A. Clary)
|
NEW YORK
CITY, New York — JP Morgan Chase is being investigated by US authorities over
claims the bank hired the children of influential Chinese officials to secure
business in the country, the New York Times reported Saturday.
The Times
reported on its website, citing a confidential United States government
document, that a bribery investigation had been opened to study the
allegations.
The paper
cited one case where the bank hired the son of Tang Shuangning, a former
Chinese banking regulator who was now chairman of the state-run China
Everbright Group financial conglomerate.
The paper
reported that JPMorgan secured a succession of sought-after deals from China
Everbright after hiring the son, Tang Xiaoning.
The Times
report said the Hong Kong office of JPMorgan had also hired the daughter of a
Chinese railway official.
The
official in question was later arrested in connection with a bribery scandal,
according to the document cited by the Times.
It said the
daughter's hiring came as The China Railway Group's selected JPMorgan to advise
it on becoming a public company.
China
Railway later raised a staggering $5 billion when it floated in 2007.
The civil
investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission's anti-bribery unit had
not previously been disclosed.
The Times
however said the government document did not show a clear link between
JPMorgan's hiring policy and its ability to secure business.
The records
also did not suggest that the hired employees were unqualified, or that they
necessarily helped JPMorgan secure business. The bank has not been accused of
any wrongdoing, the paper added.
"We
publicly disclosed this matter in our 10-Q filing last week and are fully
co-operating with regulators," a JPMorgan spokesman was quoted by the
Times as saying.
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