Alibaba employee allegedly forced to drink before being sexually assaulted by boss and client; 10 fired for leaking internal account

New Delhi: In what seem to be once again rattling the tech world in China, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has dismissed 10 employees for publicizing a female employee’s internal account wherein she has alledged her former manager and client of sexually assaulting her, said a Bloomberg report.

"Alibaba announced internally last week it fired the group for sharing a harrowing account posted on an internal forum by a colleague surnamed Zhou, who accused a former manager of rape. Their offenses include sharing screenshots of the woman’s post in the public domain after removing watermarks that bore their IDs, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing an internal matter. Another three people have been reprimanded for making inappropriate comments in public forums, they added," wrote a Bloomberg report.

Earlier this month, China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, its top anti-corruption agency, has criticised what it called a "disgusting" culture of business drinking following a sexual assault scandal at e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, reported Reuters. The female Alibaba staffer alleged that she was sexually assaulted by her manager and a client while on a business trip.

The staffer alleged that she was coerced into drinking while at a dinner meeting. She said that when she recounted the event to a high-level manager, he described drinking as necessary to do business. Later, Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang announced that the alleged perpetrator, along with several other Alibaba staff, had been fired. He also urged Alibaba employees to feel empowered to reject drinking alcohol. 

Meanwhile, the Bloomberg report said that Alibaba internally announced last week that it has fired "10 employees in question" for sharing the harrowing account posted on the company's internal forum, which is accessible to "Alibaba’s 250,000 employees as well as many at fintech giant Ant Group Co".

With Agency Inputs