Alibaba's spokesman Bob Christie recently confirmed in an email that Patrick Liu, Alibaba's executive, is detained by Chinese authorities over issues during his time in Tencent Video. In his statement, he acknowledged that they understand that Patrick Liu has been detained, but the said case has nothing to do with his tenure in Alibaba group.

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According to Technology News Asia, the Alibaba executive who is being detained by Chinese authorities is being accused of graft based in the internal investigation. Along with Patrick Liu are some Tencent employees who are also embroiled in bribery and corruption allegations. Authorities only released the name of the Alibaba executive while the others remain undisclosed.

In a report, Patrick Liu Chunning, general manager of Alibaba's OSTV division and the current vice president of Alibaba Group is being detained because of alleged acceptance of bribes during his stint at Tencent Holdings. Alibaba's spokesman said that the company is willing to cooperate with the authorities, at the same time, help provide legal support for the embattled executive.

In a statement made by Tencent, it said, "an internal investigation brought to light bribery and corruption among some online video employees. The police have been notified and we are waiting for the result."

In Aug. 13, 2013, Liu joined the Alibaba team along with other co-employees from Tencent after a series of executive reshuffling.

According to CNBC, the news broke amidst Beijing's fight for corruption that put other high ranking government officials into custody. Despite the scandal, Alibaba Group supports Tencent's drive to investigate corruption and that they vowed to cooperate in the investigation.

Shares of the two giant e-commerce were not in the least affected by the issue as they both listed increased stock percentage in Hongkong, with Alibaba rising to 7.3 percent  and Tencent at 2.3 percent.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is a giant e-commerce business based in China that caters preferably small businesses by providing a medium for online market. Tencent Holding, on the other hand, is one of China's largest internet portals and currently provides value-added internet, telecom services and online advertising.

Tagstencent graft and corruption, Bribery, ecommerce corruption