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Websites to pay damages for sex lies
Xinhua, October 24, 2013
A court in Beijing on Wednesday ordered two websites to apologize and pay damages to a female executive of a state-owned oil company for reputation infringement.
The two websites, namely ITxinwen.com and china.com, carried articles in January that claimed Zhang, a Sinopec executive, had unlawfully helped a company win a deal after the company used an African man to sexually bribe her.
According to the verdict issued by the Chaoyang district court, Dadong Peninsula Company and Huawang Huitong Company, which run the two websites respectively, are each ordered to apologize and pay 30,000 yuan (5000 U.S. dollars) and 15,000 yuan in damages to Zhang.
Zhang, who works at China Petrochemical International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinopec, had previously sought 100,000 yuan.
The two websites failed to verify the content in the articles. "Sensational language" and obscene details hurt Zhang's reputation, the court said.
The alleged bribery was first asserted by Fu Xuesheng, boss of a company which failed to win the bid and who sought to retaliate through slander.
Shanghai police arrested Fu in August.
