Sina US News, 22 Beijing time, Reuters released an exclusive report on Wednesday, saying that the prosecutor of Liu Qiangdong's sexual assault case was weighing evidence other than the parties' statements in order to break the deadlock around the case.
In this report, Reuters also disclosed more details of the case, including that Liu Qiangdong's assistant had asked Li Hua, the chairman of Shenzhen Excellence Group, for help the next day to reach a settlement with the woman, and that after the victim got on the bus that night, a female assistant of Liu Qiangdong tried to sit between her and Liu Qiangdong to separate them, but was warned by Liu "Don't hinder me."
The following is an excerpt from the Reuters report:
Billionaire Business School
At the end of August, Liu Qiangdong, 45 years old, went to the University of Minnesota to attend a PhD in Business Administration (DBA) course for Chinese executives. According to university data, other students in the program include tencent CEO Ma Huateng and Chairman Li Hua of Shenzhen Zhuoyue Real Estate Group Co., Ltd.
After the alleged rape, one of Liu Qiangdong's personal assistants turned to Li Hua and asked him to make peace with the woman, who told the police.
Li Hua did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. Representatives of the University of Minnesota refused to discuss the case, citing students' privacy rights.
The alleged rape occurred at a dinner held by Liu Qiangdong at a Japanese restaurant, when the student sat next to Liu. According to police records, at the end of the banquet, the woman said that she was drunk and needed help to go home.
A woman named Alice Zhang introduced herself as Liu Qiangdong's personal assistant. She helped the student get on Liu Qiangdong's car and got on together with Liu.
The victim said that the female assistant initially tried to sit between her and Liu Qiangdong, but was warned by Liu Qiangdong to "don't hinder me", so she sat in the front row seat. Liu Qiangdong then began to act on the victim in the back seat.
At the same time, the assistant surnamed Zhang in the front row turned on the radio and folded the rearview mirror.
When a Reuters reporter dialed the cell phone of an assistant surnamed Zhang, a woman who answered the phone denied that she was Zhang, and hung up after hearing the description of the report. Liu Qiangdong's lawyer did not answer questions about the incident, nor did he respond to other specific requests for comment.
The victim told the police that she was afraid, drunk and did not know where she was. She thought she could "sit down and talk to Liu" and persuaded him to drive her home.
She said to Liu Qiangdong, "I know you are a good person. You can calm down so that you can realize what you are doing now."
When they arrived at her residence, Liu Qiangdong told the driver and the assistant surnamed Zhang that he would be back soon. According to an insider, Liu finally stayed in her apartment for about four hours, bathed there, and lay naked on her bed. The victim claimed that she repeatedly rejected Liu and tried to let him leave.
According to a police recording heard by Reuters, the woman said to the police: "I asked him, 'Don't do that. You have a wife and children,' but he wouldn't listen to me."
She also said: "He tried to pull me into the bath. I tried my best to deal with him."
Liu Qiangdong finally pressed her on the bed and raped her, when she was still wearing some clothes. The woman later told the police that she had retained the semen on the sheets as evidence.
Rapid response
The day after the incident, another assistant of Liu, Vivian Yang, contacted the woman.
According to WeChat information seen by Reuters, the victim told the assistant surnamed Yang that she wanted to talk about "what happened yesterday". Her lawyer confirmed to Reuters that these WeChat messages are true.
The female student told Yang that she wanted to be "fair" and was considering seeking a lawyer. In the subsequent police talk, the student said that she thought Liu Qiangdong could apologize to her. According to an insider, the police were provided with the same WeChat information during the investigation.
Assistant Yang suggested that she meet Li Hua, Chairman of Excellence Group that night. "You said what you said, and we said what we said. Let Boss Li tell you first that he is a person we both trust, and he can communicate with you first." This conversation was recorded by a friend of the victim, and Reuters heard these recordings.
Reuters cannot determine what prompted Yang to propose Li Hua as a middleman, or whether Li Hua agreed to do so, or whether he knew about the plan.
The victim told the police that she refused the offer and said she only wanted to talk to Liu. According to the recording, she said that she hoped to have one of her friends present.
WeChat information shows that the assistant surnamed Yang finally agreed to take Liu Qiangdong to the Carlson School of Management of the University of Minnesota to meet the lady at about 10:30 p.m. on Friday. When Liu arrived there, the woman was making a statement to the police. The police arrested Liu Qiangdong around 11:00 p.m.
Liu Qiangdong was released at about 4 p.m. the next day, waiting for investigation. A few hours later, he returned to China by private plane.
Related reading: Lawyer Liu Qiangdong: Reuters broke the integrity of the investigation and continued to disclose extremely inaccurate information
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