Ola, Uber’s biggest rival in India, thinks the ride hailing company is “low on morality” and “despicable.”
The harsh words in a company statement follow a recent Recode report that Uber’s president of business in the Asia Pacific region, Eric Alexander, had obtained medical records of a passenger who was allegedly raped by an Uber driver in India. Uber executives were skeptical of the victim’s story, according to Recode, thinking it might be an attempt at corporate sabotage by Ola. Alexander has since been fired.
“It is a shame that the privacy and morals of a woman have to be questioned in an attempt to trivialise a horrific crime,” Ola said in the statement reported by Buzzfeed. “It is despicable that anyone can even conceive an attempt to malign competition using this as an opportunity. If this report were to be even remotely true, this is an all time low on morality and a reflection of the very character of an organisation.”
Uber recently announced that it has fired 20 people following an internal investigation into its workplace culture and misconduct by employees.