German sports equipment manufacturer Adidas is investigating a vast affair of alleged corruption in China valued at several “millions of euros” by local employees of the group, the Financial Times (FT) said on Sunday.
According to the business daily, a letter allegedly written by “employees of Adidas China” accuses several Chinese employees by name, including a company executive.
The document, which circulated this month in China on the social network Xiaohongshu, an equivalent of Instagram, puts the alleged fraud at 250 million euros.
The letter is no longer visible on the platform on Sunday, but a supposed copy, the authenticity of which AFP was unable to verify, is used on several accounts.
Cited by the FT, the document accuses Adidas staff of having received bribes from service providers mandated by the German group.
An Adidas China manager is accused of having received “millions in cash from suppliers, as well as assets including real estate.”
According to the Financial Times, Adidas received a letter on June 7 warning the three-stripe brand of “potential violations” in China.
The group could not immediately be reached for comment.
Adidas’ first-quarter sales in China rose nearly 8% year-on-year, according to results released in April.
