Alibaba fires employee accused of sexually assaulting colleague

Beijing, Aug 9 (UNI) In a social-media inspired case, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has decided to fire the male employee accused of sexually assaulting a female colleague during a work trip, a top company executive said on Monday.
“As Qu Yi admitted that he had ‘overly intimate actions’ with colleague [whose name Sputnik withheld to protect the privacy of sexual assault victims], it’s a serious violation of company policies. He will be fired and will never be rehired,” Daniel Zhang, Alibaba CEO, said in an internal memo to employees, circulated on social and national media.
The memo states that the perpetrator’s guilt is yet to be proven.
In addition to the erring employee, other top officials in the company will be penalized for being indirectly responsible, Zhang added in the memo.
The sexual assault scandal involving the Alibaba employee exploded on Chinese social media over the weekend, after videos of the victim storming the corporate cafe demanding justice went viral. The victim later posted a detailed account of her traumatic experience during a recent work trip.
The victim, whose identity is being held to protect her privacy, said she was on official assignment with her supervisor in Jinan, a city about 560 miles to the north, where she was tricked to drink with the company’s clients. The victim said she got drunk and almost lost consciousness, waking up to discover that she had been sexually assaulted. The security cameras appeared to show the alleged perpetrator of visiting her room four times during the night.
The victim was asked to undertake necessary medical exams after filing her case with the police. However, initial reactions from Alibaba executives after she shared her traumatic experiences with them on August 2 were dismissive. The alleged perpetrator was allowed to continue to work at Alibaba, while the company’s executives told the victim that they didn’t want to suspend or fire him in order to protect her own reputation.
After futile attempts to force Alibaba executives to take action, the victim became desperate and decided to storm into the corporate café at Alibaba with a loud speaker and fliers to demand justice.
After videos of the victim’s actions began to circulate on Chinese social media, her case finally started to catch news headlines in China and led to Alibaba’s decision to fire the perpetrator on Monday.
The police in Jinan, where the alleged assault took place, said in a statement on Sunday that they were still investigating the case.