Wall Street Journal Employees Investigated for Allegedly Bribing Chinese Officials

Wall Street Journal employees based in China were investigated last year by the Justice Department over a claim of allegedly bribing Chinese officials, according to the newspaper's own Sunday report.

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Dow Jones, the News Corp.-owned corporate parent of the global financial publication, found "no evidence" to corroborate the Justice Department's claim, the Journal said. 

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The newspaper wrote that in early 2012, News Corp. was reached by the Justice Department, which stated that it "had received information from a person it described as a whistleblower who claimed one or more Journal employees had provided gifts to Chinese government officials in exchange for information."

A Dow Jones spokesperson told the Journal: "After a thorough review of our operations in China conducted by outside lawyers and auditors, we have not found any evidence of impropriety at Dow Jones."

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Earlier this year, the Journal, as well as the New York Times and other media outlets, reported that its computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers who may be linked to the government.

In February, in a round of arrests surrounding the ongoing News Corp. phone hacking inquiry in the U.K., News International employees of the tabloid The Sun were arrested for bribing officials.

Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly opened an investigation looking into whether Hollywood studios had allegedly bribed Chinese officials in order to get larger access to the market.