Avon corruption probes under way

New York: Avon Products, the world’s largest door-to-door cosmetics merchant, is probing possible corruption in other countries after firing four executives over bribes to officials in China, it said in a regulatory filing.

The company suspended the four in April 2010 as part of an internal investigation into its compliance with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The executives included the general manager and finance chief of the company’s China unit, which generates 2% of Avon’s revenue. Other employees could be affected, according to the filing.

Avon, based in New York, is conducting compliance reviews “in a number of other countries selected to represent each of the company’s international geographic segments.”