Your weekly dose of what’s up in whistleblowing.
Momentum is building behind allegations against the Police and its regulator.
Trisha Napier has exposed how IOPC senior managers interfered in an investigation into police gross misconduct investigation into stop and search of black athlete Bianca Williams stop and search. (BBC, Protect)
+ Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley is introducing a new anti-corruption and abuse command aiming to reform the Met in the next two years. (LondonWorld). Meanwhile more whistleblowers coming forward with allegations demonstrating the systemic issues within the Met (Daily Star, iNews)
Authorities are failing to address whistleblowing concerns.
Home Office ignored multiple warnings that the asylum-seeking children under their care would be vulnerable to targeted criminal attacks – 136/600 kids have been reported missing from one hotel. (The Guardian)
+ Whistleblower Sergei Cristo reveals that he initially raised his concerns about Russian spy links to conservatives to the authorities (Met and MI5), and only blew the whistle after he was repeatedly ignored. (The Guardian)
Green whistleblowing is (finally) taking root.
Desiree Fixler told Forbes about how she uncovered shocking amounts of ESG fund greenwashing by German asset manager DWS (which has now reduced by 75% its ESG assets and got rid of its misleading ESG framework) (Forbes)
+ Mighty Heart raised a whistleblowing concern to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, urging authorities to investigate the Brazilian meat giant JBS’s issuing of allegedly misleading and fraudulent “green bonds”. (MightyEarth, Meat+Poultry)
+ New BBC Buried podcast reveals the ‘ecomafia’ behind 100s of illegal waste sites across the country. Evidence has been found that the NI government was made aware of a waste site being legally extended (now 46-hectares!) and did nothing about it. (The Guardian)
Legislation against greenwashing is in the works…
EU planning draft legislation that will require companies to back up their green claims with hard evidence, (euronews) but have been warned not to attempt to define ‘greenwashing’ in law, to prevent overcomplication in an everchanging sector. (Reuters)
+ The Financial Conduct Authority’s ESG director has declared that greenwashing penalties will eventually come into force, but not until it has put more “guardrails” in the funds sector. (FN £)
Hopes for better protections against sexual harassment in the workplace.
Regulators will seek to draw up new rules on dealing with lawyers who use non-disclosure agreements to cover up clients’ sexual misconduct and harassment. (The LawSoc Gazette)
+ The proposed Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill will extend employers’ duties to protect against sexual harassment and reintroduce protection for third-party harassment. Currently in report stage at House of Commons. (CIPD)
Continued Claims of ‘toxic culture’ in the workplace.
Equality consultant Alison McDermott (who was dismissed after flagging “toxic culture” at the nuclear site) launches tribunal appeal against Judge Philip Lancaster’s tribunal finding that she was not a whistleblower. (BBC)
+ Welsh Rugby Union were warned of a ‘ticking time bomb’ regarding their equality and diversity issues before Charlotte Wathan spoke out about its deeply misogynistic culture. (BBC)