Japanese media broke the news: A Lexus China executive took bribes, involving up to 1 billion yen
Japanese media exposed a bribery incident of an executive of Lexus China on June 28. According to the above report, recently, a screenshot of a Japanese-language email titled "Evidence of bribery involving Chen Chen, deputy general manager of Lexus, a subsidiary of Toyota (China)" was exposed on the Internet, which attracted widespread attention. The email detailed allegations that Chen had taken bribes over the past three years, amounting to 1 billion yen (tens of millions of yuan). Japanese media said that this figure is shocking.
According to public information, the executive surnamed Chen was born in March 1982, graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology and went to the United Kingdom to study engineering business management at the University of Warwick. After returning to China, he joined Lexus and successively served as sales manager and marketing manager of Lexus China, after which he became the deputy general manager of Lexus China, and was the fastest promoted and youngest Chinese senior executive in Toyota China.
The email alleges that executives surnamed Chen used their position to accept commercial bribes from suppliers for years through bank cards in the names of several people, including relatives and friends. The email detailed the specific information of each bank account involved, accompanied by corroborating evidence such as bank transaction records of the persons involved, so that the allegation could almost confirm its authenticity.
As a world-renowned automobile manufacturer, Toyota has always advocated a transparent and compliant corporate culture and established a good business ethics image around the world. The bribery incident that triggered Lexus headquarters is also the first bribery incident of executives investigated since Lexus entered China.
In the Chinese market, Lexus is also currently facing development pressure. In 2022, Lexus' sales fell by 22%, officially ending its 17th consecutive year of positive sales growth in China. In May, Lexus' sales in China fell 5.3 percent.