The head of a Chinese charity firm has been accused of demanding sexual favours from a woman in exchange of donations to help in the medical treatment of her sick child.
The regional head of China Charities Aid Foundation for Children, identified as Lei Ke, has been publicly accused by a female charity worker named Zheng, according to a report by South China Morning Post.
Zheng, who worked at the charity firm and helped in setting up a '9958 Project', claimed that her boss Ke was exploiting a desperate mother who was supposed to be helped out by the firm.
The charity firm, which is amongst China's most well-known charities, is based in Beijing and was founded in 2010.
According to SCMP, Zheng said that 9958 Project is the most resourceful initiative by the charity firm and it also helps severely and seriously ill children.
According to reports, Ke was the head of the project for central China and is also in-charge of the Henan and Hubei provinces.
As Ke is under probe for now, it remains unclear whether there are any other similar victims.
Ke sent disturbing messages to the mother which read 'Love you forever' and 'I didn't love the wrong woman', SCMP reported citing screenshots of WeChat which were provided by Zheng.
According to SCMP, another screenshot of a text reply by the mother read, "I am not a good person either, I’m just doing this for my child. Before you give me a cheque we always go to a hotel. Is there anything in this world that isn’t dirty?"
Zheng claims to have received these message screenshots via Weibo in June.
She encouraged the woman to report the incident to police and file a case against their boss.
Earlier in 2020, Zheng reported a similar case where Ke allegedly forced a woman named Liu into sleeping with him.
According to reports, it turned out after probe that the act was consensual and the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence.
According to SCMP, in January, another case came to light where a woman came forward and claimed that she was tricked into performing sexual acts with a charity boss for over about a year.
The boss lured the woman into sleeping with him by telling her that 'the foundation has money'.
According to the publication's report, the woman said, "I ultimately couldn’t save my child but the price I paid was too high. I’m not physically attractive, but I did it for my child. Just one promise of ‘the foundation has money’ and I endured a year of exploitation."
She further said, "Each time I asked for funding, he concocted various excuses. In the end, I had to compromise. What does losing my dignity matter when it’s for my child? If I hadn’t traded my body, I might not have received one penny from the charity."
There was another leaked message conversation between Ke and an anonymous woman about which he said, "The child’s mother volunteered. I said, ‘If you sleep with me once, I’ll give you the donation,’ then she volunteered."
According to SCMP, when questioned about the authority over the funds or donations of the charity firm, Ke said, "But I control the money. What’s the problem?"
Ke who is celebrated as 'an outstanding Henan native' has also been gifted the title 'Good People of China' in December 2017.
According to the publication's report, a member of the Civil Affairs Department, Henan, said, "We are taking the issue seriously and are further investigating the matter."