Uber has begun reviewing its operations in India after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a probe to investigate whether the company had broken US laws by bribing foreign officials.
The scrutiny of the India unit as part of a review by Uber, for which it has hired law firm O‘Melveny & Myers LLP, will focus on suspicious activity in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday. The company has notified US authorities of payments made by its staff to Indonesian police officers.
Also under the ambit of Uber’s investigation is how former executive Eric Alexander obtained medical records of the woman who was raped by an Uber driver in Delhi in 2014. Alexander, who was relieved by Uber, had apparently carried the woman’s medical records around for months and had shared it with other top executives including its ousted founder and CEO Travis Kalanick, Bloomberg newswire reported on Wednesday.
The woman has filed a lawsuit in a US court against Uber, Kalanick and Alexander of violating her for a second time by “unlawfully” obtaining and sharing her medical records.
The review of Uber’s operations in India comes at a time when the US taxi-hailing company has stepped up discounts to passengers and incentives to drivers to grab market share from rival Ola and dominate the Indian market.
India is the last large remaining market in Asia that Uber has a significant presence having lost to local player Didi Chuxing in China and merged its operations with Russia’s Yandex.
Interestingly, Softbank, which has backed both Didi and Ola, has emerged as a new investor in Uber, which potentially could look at merging the two players in India. Both players are wary of a merger, unsure of which company would remain on top in India.
Last month, Uber named former Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as its new CEO after several months of hunt to replace Kalanick.