Catholic charity suspends aid worker over Haiti links

A CATHOLIC aid charity has suspended a worker implicated in the Haiti aid scandal.

The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod) put the employee on leave after discovering he was one of the former Oxfam staff members accused of sexual misconduct. After being dismissed by Oxfam he had been taken on by Cafod to work in the Philippines.

Cafod said it had not been aware of the allegations made against the employee, who has not been named.

Chris Bain, the director of Cafod, said bosses learned of the claims from a newspaper report. He said: ‘We were not aware of allegations made against this employee and received two references, as standard practice, at the time of recruitment.

‘Following concerns raised [in the media], the staff member has been put on leave while we examine the issues raised and follow our code of behaviour protocol to determine the next steps.’

Three Oxfam employees resigned and four were sacked following the investigation into allegations that they used sex workers in 2011.

Mr Bain said Cafod had a zero-tolerance approach to breaches of its behaviour code. ‘It is disheartening that the actions of a few unscrupulous aid workers may undermine trust in the life-saving work done by overseas development and humanitarian agencies, including Cafod, working alongside some of the poorest communities and helping them live life to the fullest,’ he said.

Oxfam said it would ‘not provide a positive reference for any of those that were dismissed or resigned as a result of the case’.