Sony was probing India unit for corruption, according to leaked emails

The Sony hacking saga has revealed that the company was probing its India unit for corruption, bidding fraud, and bribes being paid to government officials, says a report in Bloomberg.

According to the report, the leaked emails show that Sony hired consultancy firm Ernst and Young to “look into its businesses in the country and uncovered potential evidence of wrongdoing.”

The report goes on to note that Sony’s joint venture with Discovery Communications “may have engaged in fraudulent bids, kickbacks and excessive handouts to government officials, according to an October memo sent to the chief financial officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment.”

One of the leaked emails also notes that Sony had “four ‘areas of concern’ at the MSM Discovery India venture” and that it called for more enquiry and even sacking of some workers.

As far as gifts to government officials are concerned, IPL tickets were given to some bureaucrats as well as laptop bags during Diwali, points out the report.

Sony and Ernst and Young have refused to comment on the contents of the emails. Given that Sony sees some solid revenue from TV programming in India, and also airs the Indian Premier League cricket matches, the issue of malpractices in the India unit would have caused concern for the parent company.

Sony hasn’t had a great start to 2015 thanks to the hacking saga that unveiled at the end of 2014, which saw the company’s private emails, records get published on the web, by a group of hackers calling themselves the Guardians of Peace. The attack was believed to be in revenge for Sony’s controversial comedy film The Interview, which shows the assassination of North-Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un.

While North Korea denied any role in the attack, Sony was initially reluctant to release the film. However later on the company released the film, not just in theatres but on digital platforms like Google Play Store, YouTube etc.

The hacked emails revealed personal details of employees, their private conversations (some of which had Sony execs mocking top Hollywood stars like Angelina Jolie) as well as business plans. After the emails were publicly leaked, Sony then threatened legal action against sites, social media users that put out the private information, in an effort to stem the negative publicity.

As far as the hacking is concerned, it has done it’s fair share of damage to the company. But if the latest emails are anything to go by, Sony faces far more serious problems at least where its India unit is concerned.

Posted by : Gizmeon