UBER Technologies Inc’s dealings with the Malaysian government are being scrutinised by investigators in the United States looking into whether the ride-hailing service broke US bribery laws in its operations in five Asian countries, Bloomberg reports today.
The revelation comes as Uber has embarked on a review of its Asia operations and notified US officials about payments made by staff in Indonesia, sources told the financial news portal. The US Department of Justice is also looking into the case.
The tech giant has also engaged lawyers to examine records of foreign payments and interview employees on suspicious activity in at least five Asian countries: China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea.
The law firm is reviewing a web of financial arrangements linked to Putrajaya that may have influenced MPs, Bloomberg cited sources as saying.
Uber’s law firm is probing into a corporate donation, announced in August last, of tens of thousands of dollars to the Malaysian Global Initiative and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), a government initiative to nurture start-ups. It was launched by then US president Barrack Obama in 2014 and is chaired by Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah
The reports said about the time of the donation, pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan invested US$30 million (RM125 million) in Uber, said people familiar with the deal.
Less than a year later, the government passed laws that were favourable to Uber and other ride-hailing services.
Uber’s lawyers are trying to determine whether there was any form of quid pro quo.
An Uber representative in Malaysia told Singapore’s Channel NewsAsia they were "cooperating with the investigation".
"Beyond that, we won't be able to comment since this is an ongoing investigation," the official said.
Uber's run-in with Indonesia authorities began last year over the location of an office in Jakarta providing support to local drivers, sources told Bloomberg.
Police officers said the office was not in a zone for businesses, so an employee decided to dole out multiple, small payments to police in order to continue operating there, sources said.
The transactions showed up on the employee’s expense reports, described as payments to local authorities.
Uber fired the employee, sources said.
Alan Jiang, the company’s head in Indonesia who approved the expense report, was placed on a leave of absence and has since left the company.
Bloomberg said Jiang didn’t respond to requests for comment. – September 20, 2017.
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