Monrovia – The head of Finance and Administration at the Cavalla Rubber Corporation (CRC) has disputed claims of sexual harassment at the company, and called on the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCP) to lead an independent inquiry into those allegations.
Speaking recently in an exclusive interview with this newspaper, Mr. Ange Olivier Lezou said he sees the allegations as something which evolves whenever the company resists fraudulent claims.
Report by Mae Azango, [email protected]
Responding to a February 20, 2018 edition of Front Page Africa, in which a former employee of the company told this newspaper about what CRC management, including him—Lezou — was doing to Liberian girls, Lezou said those claims only came about after the company refused to pay doubtful claimants on the entity’s resettlement program on new land acquired for its expansion.
When our team of reporters visited Maryland County back in February and after their findings, wrote the story, Lezou wasn’t around to provide official response for CRC. He was said to have been in La Côte d’Ivoire on some investigation.
With documentations in the possession of FPA, Lezou stated that various claims including fights against expatriate managers, rape allegations against expatriates, allegations of financing demonstration against Liberian staff, allegations of slavery practices against Liberian employees, all supposed to lead to non-renewal of work permits have come up before in the workings of the company, whenever controls are reinforced on some specific processes.
Allegations of sexual harassment, unlawful dismissal of Liberians from both CRC and Maryland Oil Palm Plantation (MOPP) and replacing them with Ivoirians, staff being denied rightful financial packages, etc, from the Concerned Youth Movement and the Association of Chiefs and Elders of surrounding communities of Pleebo-Sodoken District in Maryland County, were made against the company and specifically him.
Also, included in the traditional youths’ protest against the company’s operations is a letter they sent back in December 2017 demanding the expulsion of all expatriates from the company before the 31st day.
Specifically the Pleebo District Youth demanded the removal of certain staff, including the Deputy Managing Director, Security Manager, Technical Manager and a nurse. The chiefs also wrote the Superintendent highlighting the same points the young people had made against the company and its top management team.
Making reference to Maryann, the source in the original story back in February 2018, Lezou noted that the profile matched a certain staff whose activities have come to his attention.
In our previous article, Maryann (not her real name) narrated how she faced sexual harassment and was forced to resign from the company.
“The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of both companies, Mr. Ange Olivier Lezou, is in the habit of taking the girls working with the company to La Côte d’Ivoire to sleep with them. The girls are forced because they are instructed by him as their boss to do so. Who are they to refuse?” she had told our team of reporters, who had gone to that Southernmost tip of the country to ascertain the news of sexual harassment at CRC and MOPP.
To refute all her allegations, Lezou displayed communications and added that in 2016 Maryann participated in a training session in China in violation of company’s procedures, but her delayed salaries were paid in bulk. “However, the company was convinced that despite her absence from work without an excuse, she actually attended a training which was beneficial to the company,” he added.
Explaining further, he added that Maryann requested a training opportunity to go to India, scheduled for June 2017, for which she was granted excuse from work and US$1,400 was given to her as travelling allowances.
“She returned the funds on July 19, 2017 on grounds that the training was postponed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to December 2017 for her group of attendees,” said Lezou.
According to him, while awaiting the new date, she informed management in November 2017 that the training was cancelled due to electoral issues.
He said aside from Maryann, the company periodically sponsors staff at trainings in La Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria, but doubted whether Maryann had ever been sent to neighboring La Côte d’Ivoire. He also denied that any female staff, who had gone to that country was to offer sexual favors.
He admitted that there are communications between him and Maryann, which are all documented in both, electronic and hard copies. However, he vehemently denied that he ever made any request for sexual favors from her.
According to him, he has never used his position at the company to gain sexual favors from anyone. He thinks those who had spoken with FPA had done so seeking revenge for his role in preventing the company from making fraudulent compensations.
When Maryann spoke to us in February, she had directed us to a former co-worker, who said was also one of the alleged sexual victims of Lezou.
But when our team caught-up with Sarah, she refuted all of Maryann’s claims; adding: “This is the first time hearing about such behavior from Mr. Olivier, because he never touched my hands before I talk about him touching my breast for the five years I worked with the company.”
Similarly, the former Superintendent of Maryland, Besty Kuoh-Toe, denied any knowledge of sexual abuse at CRC, though she said she was aware of claims of wrongful dismissal and denial of just benefits to occupants.