New Delhi, August 28: The Peru embassy has denied the sexual harassment charges levelled by a former visa officer against a diplomat in the mission.
An embassy official said a former employee – who has lodged a police complaint claiming sexual harassment – had been asked to resign following her alleged involvement in two cases of embezzlement.
There was nothing more to the case other than that, the official added.
” In the first week of June 2009, junior members of the staff in the consular section discovered the embezzlement of Rs 214,000 against the former visa officer. On Tuesday, June 9, she was confronted with the fact and having admitted it, she was asked to immediately return the money in cash the next day ( June 10). After having done that she was formally dismissed,” Meena Thakur, administrative officer of the embassy of Peru, said.
The embassy official said she was the one who had ” embezzled” two sums of Rs 214,000 and Rs 241,000 which was detected in June and August this year.
” Earlier, we thought there was an embezzlement of Rs 214,000. Later, after further internal investigations and tallying the monthly income of consular section with the bank statement it was found that another Rs 241,000 was missing,” Thakur added.
Strongly denying any sexual harassment, Thakur further said the complainant was summoned and talked to in the presence of an administrative officer of the embassy.
She said Peru’s foreign ministry had been duly informed about the case.
The embassy had not proceeded with filing an FIR in the case because it was awaiting instructions from Lima and ” looking for a further and deeper verification of the consular section’s bank account”, she added.
” The entire staff of the embassy is well aware of this episode and can testify that the girl who had filed the complaint has never had any private meeting with the staff member and harassed in any way,” she said.
The complainant was handling the visa section under the guidance of the head, consular section. She joined the embassy in February 2006. The former visa officer, however, had earlier narrated an alleged sexual harassment at the workplace. A detailed complaint was filed with the local police.
–Agencies