-By Warner Todd Huston
Charges that the Wall Street Journal bribed Chinese officials in exchange for inside information on the Chinese government appear unsubstantiated according to an internal investigation conducted by the paper. The investigation was conducted with an outside investigative firm and was mandated by the federal government.
The Journal reports that an internal audit of financial records “found no evidence to support the claim,” according to “government and corporate officials familiar with the case.”
These allegations came to light during the federal government’s wider probe into WSJ’s parent corporation, News Corp., in connection with the wire tapping and bribery probe allegedly perpetrated by the company’s tabloid papers in the United Kingdom.
According to WSJ, the allegations of bribery of Chinese officials came from a “whistleblower who claimed one or more Journal employees had provided gifts to Chinese government officials in exchange for information.”
In the opinion of executives of News Corp., the informant was likely an agent of the Chinese government who was “seeking to disrupt and possibly retaliate” against WSJ for its critical reportage about the internal troubles inside the Communist nation.
“The company officials came to that view after finding no evidence of the alleged bribery and because of the timing and nature of the accusations, company officials say,” WSJ says.
The Journal goes on to report that Paula Keve, a spokeswoman for News Corp.’s Dow Jones unit, said in a statement that, “After a thorough review of our operations in China conducted by outside lawyers and auditors, we have not found any evidence of impropriety at Dow Jones.”
These sort of bribery charges would be a violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In such cases the U.S. government requires the company charged with the violation to conduct an internal investigation, usually aided by external investigation services and law firms.
News Corp. has hired the law firm of Williams & Connolly and is expected to release to the Department of Justice the results of its investigation in April.
“In regards to U.K. matters, we’ve delivered on our commitment to uncover wrongdoing and feel confident about the work we’ve done to put us on the right path, including sweeping changes to our global internal controls, compliance programs and ethics requirements,” News Corp. said in a statement.
After the release of the results of the internal investigation, the government will make its final decision on whether or not to impose sanctions, criminal charges, or fines.
WSJ notes that several U.S. officials said that Justice Department lawyers are “increasingly skeptical any criminal charges would be filed” against the paper though the investigation continues.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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