Opinion | Sinopec official denies accepting escort service in bribery case

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Photos of suspected male escorts are found on some online forums.

Published: 12:09pm, 3 Jan 2013Updated: 5:19pm, 3 Jan 2013

State-owned oil giant Sinopec has launched an investigation into allegations that one of its officials accepted escort services as a bribe by a supplier, which won a lucrative contract for a project worth 18 billion yuan (HK$22 billion) in Wuhan.

The official at China Petroleum & Chemical, identified only by her last name as Zhang, called the accusations false and added that she had filed a complaint with the police, reported China News Service on Thursday.

The allegations first surfaced on one of China’s popular online forums this week, but its origins are unclear. The story was quickly picked up by major newspapers. Sinopec announced on Wednesday they had launched an official investigation.

The scandal involves US-listed technology company Agilent Technologies, which had been accused of bribing Zhang with sex service provided by male sex workers in a high-end Beijing club, said media reports. Some of the escorts were reported to be African.

Agilent had secretly videotaped Zhang, reports said. It later threatened her with the tape when the company competed for a big contract to sell machines to Sinopec for an 18-billion-yuan plant to produce petrochemical ethylene in Hubei province's Wuhan.

Zhang then worked with Agilent and helped it to win, said reports.