An executive in charge of tendering from the State-owned China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) vehemently denied Thursday that she accepted sexual favors arranged by a US company that was then allowed to change its bid to win a $2.3-million contract with Sinopec.

The executive with Sinopec's subsidiary China Petrochemical International, surnamed Zhang, said she has already reported the online accusation, which has been deleted, to Beijing police.

Youth.cn, a website under the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, reported Wednesday that the posting first appeared on an online forum Monday.

The original posting, whose source is unknown, alleged that Zhang was provided with two African male sex workers by the US-based high-tech multinational, Agilent Technologies.

The posting also claimed that Zhang then helped the US-based company win a tender to provide 71 gas chromatographs and software to be used in a billion dollar Sinopec-led ethylene project in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.

The posting said that Agilent sent Zhang snapshots of her encounter with the men and threatened to make them public if she didn't help the company to win the tender. 

The online posting said Agilent was privately told that its bid was not the lowest and it was also allowed to lower its bid after the tender's May deadline had passed. 

Zhang said on Thursday that the posting was bogus and she has asked police to open a malicious defamation investigation, according to chinanews.com.

Zhang added that the bidding process for contracts on the 18 billion yuan ($2.89 billion) ethylene project is completely legitimate.

"The Internet rumor has caused serious damage to me and my family, and I believe the law will protect the legal rights and dignity of citizens," said Zhang.

A source from Sinopec told the Global Times Thursday that there were few additional details since the posting occurred over the New Year holiday, and the results of its internal investigation will be announced to the public.

Both Agilent and China Petrochemical International could not be reached for comment as of press time Thursday.

The Global Times found that from April to May last year, China Petrochemical International changed the bidding details of the Wuhan project four times on chinabidding.com, a government-authorized tendering and bidding platform.

The original bidding date was also delayed from April 24 to May 29, according to the platform.

Agilent was also the target of online rumors in 2009 alleging it provided sex services to another Sinopec executive it was doing business with.