Al-Rawi distances Govt from Angostura

CARLA BRIDGLAL

The situation at Angostura is Angostura’s, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said yesterday, distancing the Government from any decision made by the company’s board and management in relation to its staff.

He did, however, reiterate the Government’s intolerance of allegations of wrongdoing.

Al-Rawi was responding to a question during the post-Cabinet media briefing yesterday at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, referring to an article in yesterday’s Express that reported a female executive at Angostura who had filed a sexual harassment complaint against the board’s chairman Dr Rolph Balgobin had been dismissed.

Balgobin had recently been cleared of any wrongdoing in a report by former Justice Rolston Nelson, although neither he nor his accuser had been interviewed. Al-Rawi was careful to avoid the words “sexual harassment” despite being asked specifically about the issue in the global context where several high-profile men have been accused and subsequently dismissed for alleged impropriety.

“This issue at Angostura is one that has passed through several layers of process. The actions you referred to in other jurisdictions where there are allegations of discrimination and impropriety, all are going through a due process environment,” he said.

Al-Rawi said that the Government had no part in “the firing of someone I don’t even know.”

Angostura was not a simple environment, he said, suggesting there was “a lot afoot” that was the subject of significant investigation and would be revealed in due time and place.

He said he was not going to speculate about the situation, but rather wait on facts.

Angostura, formerly part of the Clico empire, is a publicly traded company whose majority shareholder is CL Financial, which currently under state control.

Sexual harassment is a grossly under-reported in TT, the Association of Female Executives (AFETT) told Newsday. In an e-mailed statement, the group said situations, such as the one suggested in the Express, did not encourage women to report cases for fear of victimisation.

AFETT said there were no laws that explicitly addressed sexual harassment in TT and while sexual harassment in the workplace was covered in some measure under the Equal Opportunity Act, in practice, employees were left to the discretion of the company.

“As a nation, we have nurtured a culture of sexual harassment and this is reflected in the workplace. This is a problem that has been swept under the carpet for far too long.”

The TT American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), said all workers should be protected against gender-based violence, sexual harassment and victimisation in any form. As the issue continues to take centre-stage around the world, this can create a tipping point for TT, the group said in a release yesterday.

“We must make certain that anyone who steps forward to report sexual harassment is protected against victimisation. In the same vein, we also believe that all parties (the accused and the accuser) must have a right to a fair, unbiased and thorough investigation,” AmCham said.