Former Alibaba Pictures Executive Under Investigation for Corruption

A former vice president of Alibaba Pictures is under investigation for corruption, insiders at subsidiaries of China e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. have confirmed.

In a reply to a Caixin inquiry, Alibaba Pictures said that reports that Kong Qi has been put under police investigation for embezzlement and taking bribes aren't relevant to the company's current business operations, as Kong's alleged violations did not occur when he worked at the company.

Ant Financial, another affiliate of Alibaba, also confirmed that Kong is "going through legal procedures."

"We are unauthorized to comment further on the issue. We will wait for the results of the investigations," said Ant Financial, which runs Alipay and other financial services, in response to a Caixin inquiry.

Media reports said Thursday that Kong is being scrutinized for alleged corrupt behavior that took place in 2014, when he was a senior executive at Alipay.

It's unclear when Kong was detained.

People inside Alibaba Pictures also confirmed to Caixin that Kong had been arrested by police on charges of embezzlement and taking bribes.

Before the investigation, Kong oversaw operations at Taopiaopiao, a ticketing platform run by Alibaba Pictures.

Alibaba Pictures said he left shortly after a 1.7 billion yuan ($247 million) funding round was completed in May.

Kong is the second former Alibaba Pictures executive to come under investigation since the creation of the tech behemoth's film business in mid-2014. In July 2015, Liu Chunning, another former vice president of Alibaba Pictures, was detained for investigation after being accused of commercial bribery by former employer Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Contact reporter April Ma (fangjingma@caixin.com); editor Ken Howe (kennethhowe@caixin.com)