Alibaba fires manager accused of sexually abusing employee
Beijing, Aug 9 (EFE).- Chinese tech conglomerate Alibaba’s chairman and CEO, Daniel Zhang, announced Monday the dismissal of a manager suspected of having sexually abused an employee during a business trip, state-run newspaper Global Times reported.
The victim said online Saturday that she was sexually abuse during a trip to the eastern city of Jinan, where she had gone with her supervisor to meet with a client.
According to the employee, her supervisor forced her to consume alcohol in excess and the client kissed her on the night of Jul. 27.
She woke up the next day naked in a hotel room with no memory of what had happened the previous night.
The hotel’s surveillance cameras showed her manager entering her room four times that night, the woman said.
In an internal memo by the Alibaba CEO, the manager known by the nickname “Quyi” confessed to having “intimate acts” with an employee while she was inebriated.
The manager was fired after his confession, said Zhang, who added that the man will never be rehired by the company again.
Zhang called the incident a “humiliation” for all Alibaba employees.
According to the woman, whose identity is unknown, on Aug. 2, after returning to Hangzhou, where Alibaba’s headquarters are located, she reported the incident to the human resources department and her superiors and asked for her boss to be fired and some time off for herself.
The employee said in her statement that the department initially agreed to her request but later did not comply with what was agreed.
This has led to the resignation of Li Yonghe, president of Alibaba’s Citywide Retail Business Group, and Human Resources Generalist Xu Kun, for failing to respond adequately.
In his memo, Daniel Zhang said he would leave it up to the law enforcement authorities to determine whether the manager had committed rape or any other crime.
Jinan’s police announced on Sunday that they are investigating the case and gathering evidence. EFE
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