A WOMAN who was sexually harassed and victimised at a charity chaired by would-be Labour candidate Asim Khan has never received her £75,000 compensation.
The victim was awarded the sum in 2016 by a tribunal after her treatment at the Roshni charity, but the body was wound up and she has been left out of pocket.
Asked to comment on the former staff member’s plight, Khan, who wants to be a Labour candidate, said: “If this is true then that is completely unacceptable. I’m actually angry and disappointed to hear this. I intimated my resignation from the charity before the tribunal began and had left before the judgment had been issued.”
A source close to the case said the woman did not receive the money: “Roshni are a bunch of hypocrites who were supposed to fight for victims of sexual abuse yet could not even protect one of their own.”
Scottish Labour is currently selecting candidates for Westminster constituencies, one of which is the competitive seat in Glasgow South West.
Four candidates are in the running, but the contest is said to be a two-horse race between left-winger Matt Kerr and Khan, a solicitor.
In an increasingly fractious contest, Khan is taking the party to court over an internal ruling which has resulted in around 80 local members, many of whom are from ethnic minority backgrounds, not being eligible to vote.
However, Khan’s previous role as chair of Roshni, which was a publicly-funded charity for ethnic minority survivors of sexual abuse, is under the spotlight.
After remedy hearings in August 2016, an employment tribunal ordered charity founder Ali Khan and Roshni to jointly pay an anonymous former staffer - Miss C - around £75,000 for personal injury and injury to feelings.
The judgement stated: “The claimant has suffered a lengthy and sustained series of acts of harassment and victimisation. We found that the acts perpetrated by the second respondent [Ali Khan] were in many cases calculated, premeditated and carried out with an intention to exercise control over the claimant.”
Ali Khan’s behaviour included verbal and physical abuse, reducing her working days after she rejected his advances, making “sexually explicit remarks to her” and encouraging her to flirt with potential advertisers.
He was also found to have made threats to disclose intimate details of Miss C’s personal life to third parties and threats of violence towards her family.
In the “psychiatric injury award” section, the judge accepted that Miss C was suffering from “moderate depressive disorder” and “post-traumatic stress disorder”.
It stated: “Even with 26 sessions of psychological therapy, the claimant is expected to recover only to the extent of 50 to 75 per cent.”
The judgement added: “We wish to record our disappointment that a charity which uses public funds to conduct [a support service] finds it acceptable to allow the chief perpetrator of very grave acts of harassment and victimisation to continue his involvement in the activities of that organisation and its staff.”
However, although Ali Khan was the perpetrator, Asim Khan was also mentioned in the judgement in his capacity as Roshni chair: “We have noted that there was a complete failure on behalf of the chairman of the first respondent, Mr Asim Khan to take any steps to protect the claimant…”
The judgement made three recommendations, including that Asim Khan apology to Miss C on behalf of the charity for her treatment by Ali Khan and another man. Asim Khan has since confirmed making a "full" apology.
According to Companies House, Asim Khan's Roshni directorship ceased six days before the remedy hearings started in August 2016. Five other directors quit days after Miss C was awarded the sum and Roshni was later dissolved.
In December 2016, another unanimous judgement was issued, this time awarding Miss C £20,000 each from Roshni and Ali Khan in expenses.
The judgement included a summary of the earlier oral findings: “In relation to Asim Khan, we found that Mr Khan was evasive at the outset of cross-examination.”
It added: “We found that Mr Asim Khan was untruthful, and that he did know what was going on between Mr Ali Khan and the claimant…”
Asim Khan said last week: "As chair, I acted appropriately at all times and provided the tribunal with an accurate account of my knowledge of the claims. I strongly reject any opinion to the contrary."
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