She accused Oxfam of lacking ‘the moral leadership at the top of the organisation’ and says Government funding will be withdrawn if it fails to comply over safeguarding issues
THE AID MINISTER Penny Mordaunt has threatened to cut off taxpayer cash going to Oxfam as she hauls the charity bosses in to explain its prostitution scandal.
She accused them of lacking “the moral leadership at the top of the organisation”, and says Government funding will be withdrawn if it fails to comply over safeguarding issues.
Ms Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary, condemned the “horrific behaviour” of some Oxfam staff members after a spate damning claims this weekend.
And she said it was “utterly despicable” that allegations of abuse persisted in the aid sector, saying: "I am very clear: we will not work with any organisation that does not live up to the high standards on safeguarding and protection that we require."
Oxfam is facing mounting criticism over its handling of allegations of sexual misconduct, and has denied claims it covered up the use of prostitutes by aid workers in Haiti in 2011 and said it publicly announced an investigation into the claims when they surfaced.
But Ms Mordaunt said it was "shocking" some staff had been able to resign after the Haiti sex allegations surfaced.
She told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show Oxfam “failed in its moral leadership", and said the charity had done "absolutely the wrong thing" by failing to tell the Charity Commission and prosecuting authorities the full details of the allegations.
And she added: "If they do not hand over all the information that they have from their investigation and subsequently to the relevant authorities including the Charity Commission and prosecuting authorities then I cannot work with them any more as an aid delivery partner."
Ahead of her meeting tomorrow to discuss the scandal she said they were being given a last chance to explain why they should continue to receive funding.
Ms Mordaunt added: “I think it's shocking and it doesn't matter how good the safeguarding practices are in an organisation, if that organisation does not have the moral leadership to do the right thing, and where in particular they have evidence of criminal activity to pass that information to the relevant authorities including prosecuting authorities, that's an absolute absence of leadership.”
The Charity Commission said on Saturday that it had written to Oxfam "as a matter of urgency" to request further information and "establish greater clarity".
The regulator said an Oxfam report on the investigation stated there had been no allegations of abuse of beneficiaries and made no mention of any potential sexual crimes involving minors.
Mr Marr said to the minister “that was a lie, wasn't it?” – to which she replied: “Well, quite.”
