Complaint against charity boss Justin Forsyth 'was formal'
- Published
Justin Forsyth resigned from Unicef on Thursday
A complaint made about ex-Save the Children chief executive Justin Forsyth before he left the charity was a formal one, the BBC has learned, but his next employer Unicef was not informed.
Mr Forsyth resigned from Unicef on Thursday after the BBC reported he had faced three complaints about his behaviour by Save the Children staff.
Save the Children insist the complaints were informal and therefore private.
Mr Forsyth has said he "apologised unreservedly" to the women at the time.
His lawyers have said Mr Forsyth was never aware of any formal complaint against him.
The BBC's Manveen Rana said the latest revelation raised further questions about why Unicef had not been told about the complaints when it hired Mr Forsyth.
'Troubling'
An investigation by BBC Radio 4's PM programme, found the complaints related to women receiving inappropriate texts, and comments on how they looked, what they were wearing and how he felt about them.
If they did not respond, Mr Forsyth would follow up his messages with an email, asking if they had seen the text, and then asking for a "quick word", the BBC investigation found.
A woman who complained at the time said it did not seem the complaints were being treated with the "appropriate degree of seriousness".
'Inappropriate behaviour'
Save the Children has confirmed that concerns had been raised about "inappropriate behaviour and comments" by Mr Forsyth.
It has maintained the complaints were informal and were therefore dealt with through confidential mediation.
The BBC has seen evidence that one of the original complaints was later also raised as a formal complaint, but that it was withdrawn when the complainant was told of Mr Forsyth's resignation from Save the Children.
Responding to this, the charity said: "One of the complainants raised a grievance against Save the Children UK in August 2015 over its handling of the case."
Speaking earlier this week, a spokesman for Unicef confirmed that the charity had not been aware of any of the complaints against Mr Forsyth at the time of his recruitment in 2016.
"There have been no such complaints concerning Mr Forsyth at Unicef," he added.