China's Internet search engine Baidu, Inc. has issued a memo discharging its eight executives allegedly accused with criminal behavior, in an effort to keep its reputation clean, according to a report by Reuters.
The report said that the Baidu executives who were sacked include senior executives in the marketing and sales departments.
"Baidu has fired the four. If we discover such cases, we will severely punish staff. Baidu will close the loopholes by strengthening management to maintain order in our communication platform," Baidu spokesperson Li Guoxun told reporters.
According to the memo, the sacked executives were mostly accused with criminal activity and breaching the company's code of morality. The memo said investigations by legal authorities have started and five of the accused executives have already been detained.
Since coming to power in 2013, President Xi Jinping has ordered a crackdown on corruption, including in the corporate sector, in which he vowed to go after powerful "tigers" and lowly "flies."
According to the report, there are more than 180 employees at director level in Baidu and it has departments designated to uncover corporate malpractice.
The report said that many tech firms in China such Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., and Baidu have internal investigation departments tasked to investigate their employees.
Huawei said that in January, the company conducted a company-wide campaign against corruption, and 4,000 to 5,000 employees had come forward to admit misconduct.
In 2011, David Wei, former CEO at Alibaba's Alibaba.com, a business-to-business e-commerce service, resigned after a rise in fraudulent transactions on the site was reported.
The report said that Baidu similarly fired employees, including some at the director level, for corruption in 2012, 2013 and 2014.