Dfid ‘knew about Oxfam predator 12 years ago but did nothing’
AN OFFICIAL at the Department for International Aid and Development failed to heed a warning about the disgraced Oxfam chief at the centre of the aid scandal, according to a whistleblower.
Having raised her concerns over the conduct of Roland van Hauwermeiren – who left Oxfam after being accused of using prostitutes – the whistleblower says Dfid responded: ‘People can change.’ The female humanitarian employee who raised the alarm worked under Roland van Hauwermeiren for Merlin – now part of Save The Children – in Liberia in the early 2000s.
When she discovered he had later become Oxfam’s Country Director in Chad in 2006, she reported allegations about his past misconduct, but says her concerns fell on deaf ears. Mr van Hauwermeiren later went on to work for Oxfam in Haiti, where he was forced out after being accused of sleeping with prostitutes, a claim he denies. Mr van Hauwermeiren, country director for health charity Merlin between 2002 and 2004 in Liberia, reportedly used the charity’s drivers to ferry him to clubs to meet prostitutes and take them to the villa rented for him using donated funds. He has admitted dancing with prostitutes in Liberia but denies he had sex with them.
Posting in a Facebook group used by concerned aid workers, the whistleblower wrote: ‘I was only 24, in my first field job and I shouted and shouted. Even though it was so rife in Monrovia [Liberia’s capital], that his behaviour only marginally stood out as crossing a line.
‘When I heard he was Oxfam CD [Country Director] in Chad, I told a woman from Dfid about his past. Her response, was that people can change.’
Last night, a Dfid spokeswoman said: ‘These allegations were not reported to our whistleblowing or HR departments.’