Corruption Strikes Drone Giant DJI

DJI, the world’s leading maker of consumer drones, discovered extensive corruption within the company.

The company states that certain employees had inflated the costs of parts and materials for certain products in order to make some extra money for themselves. DJI estimates that the corruption could have cost the company up to 1 billion yuan ($148 million).

“As of now, our company has handled 45 people suspected of corruption and misconduct, including R&D and procurement personnel involved in supply chain decision-making corruption, with a total of 26 people. Sales, administration, after-sales, and factory workers of 19 people are all listed below,” DJI stated.

The statement was released to all of the companies employees. However, it was quickly leaked to the press, a questionable action to many as the company had no way of legally determining whether all the accused personnel had actually committed the crimes they were accused of.

“I haven’t done anything. I didn’t do it,” said a DJI employee who had just been expelled. He was looking for a lawyer to prepare for the prosecution of DJI, as he said.

Some retired employees believe that the personnel cut was an attempt to reduce company costs when the company was supposed to offer annual bonus. Others believe that DJI is looking for excuses for its poor performance.

SEE ALSO: DJI Releases Osmo Pocket — Hybrid of Drone and GoPro

Founded in 2006, DJI has become the world’s largest manufacturer of civilian drones in less than 10 years, accounting for 70 percent of the world total. According to public figures in 2017, the revenue of DJI was 17.57 billion yuan ($2.6 billion).

Featured photo credit to 视觉中国