MHRC probes ETG managerover sexual abuse allegations

The Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) is investigating one of Export Trading Company (ETG) managers, Vijay Patel, on allegations of sexual abuse and verbally harassing employees.

Patel is currently facing criminal proceedings and is on bail after he appeared before the Mkukula Magistrate’s Court in Lilongwe.

But MHRC spokesperson Kate Kujaliwa said the commission is doing its own investigation following a complaint it registered on the matter.

Kujaliwa said: “I can confirm to you that the commission has started its own investigation. Upon completion, we will issue a report of our findings and remedies if need be”.

Kanengo Police spokesperson Easter Mkwanda confirmed receiving a complaint on the issue which led to Patel’s arrest early this month. 

“We received complaints through one of the units on August 25, 2021 from six employees (three male and three female) against Vijay Patel on allegations of indecent assault and use of insulting language. Investigations on the matter started and the case was referred to Kanengo Station on August 28, 2021 and he was arrested on September 1,” said Mkwanda.

He said Patel appeared before court three weeks ago where he was granted bail.

Some of the victims allege that Patel has been sexually abusing them and often used indecent and offensive language against them. The employee claim they had been going through the abuse for some time and their effort to report to the human resource manager did not yield any results hence, reporting the matter to police and MHRC.

Asked what action they took on the allegations, the company’s manager Paresh Kiri referred us to human resource manager Anatory Chayamba for a response.

When contacted, Chayamba asked for more time and on our second check he said he is not aware of the issue and immediately cut the line.

Our questionnaire sent to both Kiri and Chayamba has not been responded to.