Bribery cases prompt call for probe

进入英语学习论坛下载音频 Prosecutors have been urged to "seriously probe" the dealings of Chinese executives and officials who have allegedly become embroiled in a culture of bribery with foreign firms. Chinese media have also in recent weeks exposed several other cases of State-owned companies and government institutions taking bribes from multinational firms to secure contracts for a wide range of products. The latest case has seen China National Offshore Oil Corp, along with five other Chinese firms, accused of being involved in a $4.8-million bribery case with United States-based valve manufacturers Control Components Inc. An anonymous source at CNOOC told Xinhua News Agency on Saturday the company was "innocent" and that no members of the staff had received bribes from CCI or its sales agents. The US Department of Justice said CCI had admitted its staff had given money to executives in South Korea, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as staff at six Chinese State-owned firms, which also included Petro-China, Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corp, Guohua Electric Power, China Petroleum Materials and Equipment Corp, and Dongfang Electric Corp. As of last night, none of the companies had made any statement concerning the al-legations. Ren Jianming, an anti-corruption adviser and dean of the anti-corruption research center at Tsinghua University in Beijing, added: "Unless the central government backs follow-up investigations into those allegedly taking bribes from foreign firms, prosecutors still tend not to go further."