SHANGHAI – Alibaba today said it is cooperating with a police investigation into a sexual assault allegation aired by a company employee.
The Chinese e-commerce giant in a statement said it has also suspended “relevant parties suspected of violating our policies and values”, asserting that it has a “zero-tolerance policy against sexual misconduct”.
An unidentified female employee made the allegation in a lengthy internal posting quoted by Chinese media, which AFP is unable to verify.
She reportedly accused her manager and a client of sexual assault during a work trip to Jinan in Shandong province.
A hashtag for the allegation is among the top-viewed items on social media platform Weibo today.
Sexual misconduct has garnered increasing attention in China, especially after Chinese feminists sparked their own #MeToo movement in 2018.
In one of the biggest cases so far, police had earlier this month said Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu has been detained on suspicion of rape.
A 19-year-old student has accused Wu of date-raping her when she was 17, drawing widespread condemnation of the singer on social media and leading to several luxury brands dropping deals with him.
Alibaba is already under scrutiny from the government, which has launched a broad campaign to rein in the growing clout of the tech giants in the country.
In April, regulators hit it with a record US$2.78 billion (RM11.7 billion) fine over practices deemed to be an abuse of its dominant market position.
State media today quoted an internal memo reportedly posted by Alibaba chief executive officer Daniel Zhang, saying he is “shocked, furious and ashamed” of the misconduct case.
Jinan police said they are investigating an alleged rape case involving a female Alibaba employee, according to a statement issued on Weibo that gave no other details. – AFP, August 8, 2021
