There aren’t any big deals in China with govt companies without payoffs. Those are usually covered by hiring “agents and consultants” who pass paper for a commission.
The US company just doesn’t know what actually these people do with the commission. It is also a source of embezzlement by Chinese employees who handle some of the arrangements.
It is a very difficult situation for US Company managers who have to sign and swear each year that they didn’t bribe anyone.
It only became a problem because it went under, and PO’ed important people in China and Morgan Stanley. If value of those properties are still high-flying, we would never have heard about this.