Wal-Mart China head steps down after falsely labelled pork scandal
Wal-Mart China recently made media headlines as a result of stores selling normal pork as organic pork. And now it has come to light that the head of Wal-Mart’s China business has quit.
This comes as 13 branches in Chongquing were ordered last week to close their doors temporarily for 15 days.
In a company statement, it said that Ed Chan, who served as president and CEO of Wal-Mart’s Chinese business for almost five years, is leaving the company “for personal reasons”. Currently Scott Price, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Asia, will take over as interim leader for Wal-Mart China until a new CEO is announced, the statement added. Clara Wong, senior vice president of the human resources department of Wal-Mart’s China operations, has resigned as well.
The local government fined the stores 2.69 million yuan (421,792 U.S. dollars), and two people were arrested last week – the vice general manager and the director of the fresh produce department at Wal-Mart’s Jiulong Square branch. Also 25 other workers were detained.
Wal-Mart opened its first Chinese stores in Chongqing in 2006 and now has 353 outlets in 130 cities across the country.
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