Police have found no evidence that an Alibaba employee was raped by her boss and a client on a business trip
Chinese police say there is not enough evidence to prove that a manager and client raped an Alibaba employee at a business trip.
In their initial findings police say the former manager was suspected of committing “forcible indecency” against the woman.
Two senior executives at the e-commerce giant have resigned and Chief Executive Daniel Zhang says the company’s handling of the incident is a “humiliation”.
Alibaba launches investigation
Alibaba launched an investigation after an anonymous employee published an 11-page document detailing how her boss and a client assaulted her on a business trip.
The document has circulated widely online, prompting a social media storm. The story was one of the top trending items on Weibo over the weekend of publication.
The woman says her boss coerced her into going on a business trip with him to meet one of her team’s clients in the city of Jinan.
The woman recounts that she woke with no clothing or memory of what happened
After drinking with the client one evening, she says she woke up in a hotel room the following day with no clothing or recollection of what happened.
CCTV footage from the hotel showed that her boss visited the room four times during the evening.
The woman reported the incident to human resources and management. However, no further action was taken against her boss.
Police in China’s city of Jinan said they were investigating the incident while Alibaba launches an investigation
“Alibaba Group has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual misconduct,” a spokesperson said. “We have suspended relevant parties suspected of violating our policies and values.”
The spokesperson also said Alibaba has created an “internal task force” to investigate the incident and support the police investigation.
Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang addressed the incident in a post to the company’s internal message board
“It is not just Human Resources who should apologize. The related business department managers also hold responsibility and should apologize for their silence,” Zhang wrote.
“Starting from me, starting from management, starting from human resources, everyone at Alibaba must empathize, reflect, and take action.”
Alibaba has responded by suspending the woman’s supervisor. It has also suspended the human resource worker who failed to take action against the alleged perpetrator.
