August 10, 2021: -Alibaba has fired a manager accused of sexual assault and disciplined the employees as the Chinese e-commerce giant looks to stop reputational damage.

A female employee wrote on the intranet accusing Alibaba of her supervisor Wang Chengwen and a company client of sexual assault on the weekend. The allegations went viral when the post was shared on Weibo, China’s Twitter, and social media platforms.

The woman says that Wang forced her to drink excessively during a business dinner in Jinan in July. She said she woke up the coming morning naked on the bed in her hotel room. The employee said she vaguely remembers Wang kissing and touching her in her room one night.

According to the letter sent to Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang employees, the manager admitted to “intimate acts” with an intoxicated female employee. The memo added the fired manager would “never be rehired.”

“Whether he has committed rape or indecency that violates the law will be determined by law enforcement,” the memo said.

While police in Jinan are still investigating the incident, Alibaba decided to penalize the manager and other staffers after it “gained clarity on some critical facts on the handling of the incident,” the memo added.

Alibaba Chief People Officer Judy Tong will be given a demerit. Zhang criticized HR, says that they “did not pay enough attention and care to our people.”

“At the time, an emergency response system was absent, and a misjudgment was made. In a criminal investigation, they did not suspend the relevant parties, indicating a problem in our culture and capacity building. Given this systemic problem, the leadership must be held accountable,” he added.

A spokesperson for the company said in a statement, “Alibaba Group has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual misconduct, and ensuring a safe workplace for all our employees is Alibaba’s top priority.”

The CEO commented that Alibaba will now conduct company-wide training on protecting employee rights, which include anti-sexual harassment. The company will also “expedite the formation of an anti-sexual harassment policy.”

While police still investigate the incident, Zhang said the company is “staunchly opposed to the ugly forced drinking culture.”

“Regardless of gender, whether it is a request made by a customer or a supervisor, our employees are empowered to reject it,” he added in the memo.

Alibaba shares in Hong Kong were down 2.5% in afternoon trade as the news piled more pressure onto a company still under regulatory scrutiny after a $2.8 billion antitrust fine earlier this year.

China’s MeToo movement has not taken off as it has in the U.S. and other parts of the world. But it has begun to gather steam more recently after Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu was accused of rape and detained by police in Beijing. He has denied the allegations.