Chinese drone maker DJI finds $150m in employee fraud
Company fires 29 workers after finding widespread embezzlement
DJI, the world’s biggest maker of consumer drones, has uncovered multiple cases of embezzlement and fraud among workers in China that could involve more than Rmb1bn ($148m).
The private Chinese company on Friday said that the corruption had been uncovered by an internal investigation, which “found some employees inflated the cost of parts and materials for certain products for personal financial gain.” The frauds were spread across production, sales and marketing and R&D operations in China.
The Chinese company has fired 29 workers and referred another 16 to lawmakers, though the investigation could ultimately draw in dozens more.
The large number of cases seemed to point to widespread control failures at DJI, which has emerged as one of China’s most successful consumer electronics start-ups and has quickly dominated the new drone industry. The company, founded in 2006, has seen breakneck growth and has seen its workforce swell to 14,000 employees.
DJI said it was “taking steps to strengthen internal controls” and has “established new channels for employees to submit confidential and anonymous reports relating to any violations of the company’s ethical and workplace conduct policies.”
News of the fraud spread after the company sent an internal email to employees in China with an update of its investigation.
“We hold our employees to the highest ethical standards and take any violation of our code of ethics very seriously,” DJI said in a statement. It said that after uncovering the issue it had “fired bad actors and contacted law enforcement officials. We continue to investigate the situation and are co-operating fully with law enforcement’s investigation.”