The former boss of the British microchip company Imagination Technologies has claimed Chinese investors seemingly offered him what “felt like a bribe” to move the company to China.
Ron Black told an employment tribunal case that he was told he would make “a lot of money” if he transferred Imagination’s technology and its employees out of the UK to China.
Mr Black resigned from Imagination in 2020 amid an attempt by China Reform, the state-owned investment company that is Imagination’s key financial backer, to take over the company’s board.
He is suing the company for $257m (£203m) for unfair dismissal, alleging he was forced out for blowing the whistle.
The company claims Mr Black was removed for orchestrating an executive coup over a disagreement about strategy.
Imagination, which designs processors for smartphones, cars and smart devices, was bought by Canyon Bridge, a private equity firm backed by state-owned China Reform, in 2018.
Mr Black said that after being hired in late 2018 he was called to meet China Reform representatives at a late-night meeting at a Beijing tea house in March 2019.
Mr Black said he was pulled aside by Lining Wang, an executive at the investment firm, and encouraged to move the company’s operations to China as well as liaising directly with the state-owned investors.
‘I would “make a lot of money” if I agreed’
“He told me privately that I (meaning Imagination) should stop working through Canyon Bridge and report directly to China Reform, and begin to transfer Imagination’s technology to China, using the company’s British engineers to train new Chinese engineers, and then to lay off the British engineers to reduce cost,” Mr Black wrote in a witness statement.
“He added that I would ‘make a lot of money’ if I agreed to do these things,” Mr Black added.
“He was asking me to facilitate a wholesale transfer of Imagination’s IP and ultimately its business to Chinese entities.”
Mr Black said he had reported the conversation to Ray Bingham, Canyon Bridge’s lead partner and Imagination’s chairman.
“I said that Mr Lining Wang’s suggestion that I could make a lot of money felt like a bribe,” he wrote.
“If the Chinese state could control Imagination’s business strategy and agenda it would enable them to make technology transfers.
“That in turn would mean all the sensitive technologies … would be in the hands of the Chinese government,” Mr Black wrote.
