Chinese Carrefour staff jailed for taking bribes: state media

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — A Beijing court has sentenced eight Chinese employees of French retail giant Carrefour to jail terms of between one and five years for taking kickbacks from suppliers, state media reported Wednesday.

The court was told the staff took payments from suppliers between May 2005 and July 2007 in exchange for buying their products or for displaying them prominently, the China Daily said.

Seven of the defendants ran fresh food sections in Beijing Carrefour outlets while the eighth was responsible for purchasing fresh meat, it said.

The court sentenced Liu Yong, head of the raw and chilled meat department of the retail chain's Beijing purchasing unit, to five years in jail for accepting 114,000 yuan (16,600 dollars) in bribes, it said.

"I had...