Huawei ex-employee case needs proper solution

LI HONGYUAN, a former employee of Huawei, who had worked for the company for 13 years, was arrested in January after the company sued him for extortion because he received 300,000 yuan ($42,700) in compensation from the company for the termination of his employment. He was detained for 251 days until August, when he was released because of "unclear criminal facts and insufficient evidence". China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

Li's compensation payment was transferred by the department head through the personal bank account of the department secretary, and the memorandum of transaction was "economic compensation for termination".

Citing the transfer record of the payment via the personal account of the department secretary, Huawei accused Li of blackmail.

However, all charges against Li have been dropped. For his 251 days of detainment, he received compensation of about 107,752 yuan ($15,307) from the procuratorate responsible.

In other words, Huawei's decision to call the police has led to the detainment of an innocent person, and the loss of taxpayers' money.

After the case was made public online, Huawei issued a news release, saying that the company has both the obligation and right to call the police when it suspects any employees of illegal activities.

According to reports, the local procuratorate of Longgang district, Shenzhen city, that handled the case promised to send official letters to Huawei and the company where Li's father serves, so as to clear Li's image and mend his reputation. That shows the judiciary is aware of the negative effects that a false accusation can cause an innocent person when he is suspected of a crime and gets detained. The judiciary is doing its best to help Li recover his reputation.

It would be better for Huawei to do the same. After all, Li is a former employee who served the company for more than 10 years. If Huawei does not acknowledge that it has wronged him, that will only damage its image.

According to reports, Li said he hoped Huawei could talk with him about the issue.

It would be best if the two sides can solve the case via friendly means, as this would benefit both parties and avoid abusing judicial resources.