Chinese authorities have dropped charges against a former Alibaba manager accused of sexually assaulting a subordinate, ending a case that had provoked a backlash from the country’s #MeToo movement against Jack Ma’s ecommerce group.
Prosecutors in Jinan, Shandong province, said they were closing their investigation into the ex-manager, surnamed Wang, while handing down a 15-day detention as punishment.
The police found that Wang had entered the hotel room of a female colleague four separate times after a company dinner that involved heavy drinking, confirming her account of the incident. But prosecutors said the “forced indecency” he committed did not constitute a prosecutable crime.