CBI crisis intensifies as second female worker makes rape claim

A second woman has come forward to claim she was raped while working at the CBI.

The Guardian said it was contacted by the person after it reported on the first, historical, allegation to be made that a female CBI worker was attacked during a London party in 2019.

The second woman claimed there was photographic evidence of sexual activity with two male colleagues while she was unconscious following a night out while working at a CBI office abroad.

She had no recollection of consent, the newspaper reported.

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It added that another female employee had complained she was stalked by a male colleague in 2018 and that the business lobbying group had upheld a claim of harassment but retained the man’s services.

That was despite an alleged admission of violent and sexual feelings towards the woman, the paper said.

The scandal at Britain’s biggest employers’ organisation has seen at least 12 women complain about misconduct.

A number of allegations are the subject of an investigation by the City of London Police.

The CBI said on Thursday that it had handed officers new information relating to an alleged “serious” offence.

The scandal has seen director general Tony Danker dismissed and three other current employees being suspended amid the police inquiry and a review commissioned by the body.

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The CBI has made clear previously that Mr Danker was not the subject of the most serious allegations, including rape, that had been made to date.

He hit out at the organisation’s handling of the affair in an interview earlier this week, claiming he had been made the “fall guy” for the organisation’s failings as an employer going back before his tenure.

The second woman to make a rape allegation told the Guardian she did not blame the CBI for allegedly being raped but hit out at the culture at the body.

“I was really young and people took advantage of me after a night of drinking,” she said.

“I blame the CBI for an atmosphere that was allowed to feed into people’s sense of confidence. That they could act in this way and afterwards feel no worries, no fears of consequences. That they could feel somehow proud, in an office.

“That there wasn’t a person for me to speak to in HR who I knew of and could trust.

“I want to say to other women or men at the CBI that they do great work. I hope they understand why I wanted to speak about it; what happened to me.”

The Guardian said it had not reported the location or date of the alleged attack to help protect the woman’s identity.

The CBI is due next week to give an update on the changes it plans to implement at the organisation following the completion of the first phase of the review, led by a law firm.

Mr Danker has been succeeded as director general by Rain Newton-Smith, the organisation’s former chief economist.

Sky News has previously reported how she was parachuted into the role after chairman Brian McBride told members he was unsure whether the lobby group could have avoided collapse if it had run a lengthy process to find a successor.

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