Chinese gaming and social media company Tencent said it fired nearly 70 employees last year as part of its ongoing anti-graft campaign and will stop doing business with 13 Chinese firms that have violated its anti-bribery standards.

Tencent’s anti-fraud investigation department issued the announcement Tuesday on the company’s WeChat account. At least 10 cases involving bribery and embezzlement were referred to police for suspected criminal offenses, according to translations of the company’s statement.

Tencent in 2020 dismissed more than 100 employees as part of its anti-fraud efforts. The company parted with more than 60 employees in 2019 for similar violations.

“Tencent has always believed in the values of integrity, progress, collaboration, and creation,” the company stated in a bulletin issued last year.

In its latest update, Tencent said it investigated more than 50 instances of violations of its “high-voltage line,” an internal measurement of misconduct. The company listed 16 specific instances of violations, which included employees exploiting their positions for personal profit and several cases of recruitment scams.

In the past three years, Tencent has said it has stopped doing business with more than 50 firms that have refused to comply with its anti-bribery standards.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal, enforcement, technology, and more.

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