Bersih office raided, staff being questioned

Update terkini!!!

Selangor police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah says the raid was conducted following a tip off that there were illegal activities taking place in the premise.

PETALING JAYA: Bersih’s office here was today raided by the police as the authorities increased the pressure on the movement to call off its mass rally on July 9.

About 10 police officers were seizing several items from the premises this morning.

Reporters were barred from entering the premises and an officer from IPD Petaling Jaya took contact numbers and details from reporters present.

“Now the police are working. Later after work you can enter,” said an officer named Hamdan.

PKR supreme council member Latheefa Koya told reporters that the police came at about 11am and had threatened to force their way into the Bersih secretariat. Bersih shares the premises with another NGO, Empower.

“When the staff enquired the police whether they had a warrant, the police refused to answer and threatened to break down the gate.

“That’s when one of the staff opened the gate for them,” said Latheefa. Also present were Lawyers for Liberty advisor Eric Paulsen and coordinator Fadiah Nadwa Fikri.

Latheefa was not at the venue when the police arrived and only reached the place at about 1pm.

Staff members being questioned

The police are presently questioning six staff members under the Police Act and the Printing Presses and Publications Act.

Latheefa added that the staff members had their MyKads seized and were not allowed to leave the office.

She added that an officer known as ACP Rosli had said that the staff members will be investigated in the Bersih office for now.

If need be, they will then be taken for questioning at the Petaling Jaya police headquarters, she said.

Illegal activities
Selangor police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah, when contacted, said the raid was conducted following a tip off that there were illegal activities taking place in the premise.

“So we monitored the place and found the allegation was true,” said Tun Hisan.

The police chief said his officers had seized hundreds of Bersih T-shirts and other Bersih apparels from the office.

“Bersih is also an illegal body as it is not registered under the Societies Act. So we will refer to Registrar of Societies on this case as well,”said Tun Hisan.

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Manager spanked staff, asked others to grab his genitals

Pete Smith allegedly also used to sit women staff on his knee and stroke their hair while encouraging others to grab his genitals.

The "boys' club" culture at the marine supplies company also involved the sales manager viewing blow-up dolls and sex toys on the internet, it is claimed.

Former sales executive Angelina Ashby, 41, (pic )says staff at Chesterfield-based Cathelco Ltd drew insulting cartoons about her weight and she was called "fat face" in an email

The mother-of-one says she was subjected to a "continuous course of mistreatment" until she lodged a grievance after she couldn't take the "bullying and hurtful" comments any longer.

Just a few days later she claims sales executive Laura Holland was chased around the office by Mr Smith "who then proceeded to put her over his knee and spank her."

Miss Ashby says other male staff made derogatory comments about her.

As she lent over Pete Smith's desk to collect cups sales executive Laurie Wilson said: "Never mind Pete you have Angel's ---- in your face."

On another occasion deputy sales manager Kevin Ward told a colleague "that's Angel" while pressing a "talking" key ring which said "damn you vile women" repeatedly.

Miss Ashby, from Chesterfield, is claiming constructive dismissal and sex and pay discrimination against Cathelco.

She told the Sheffield hearing she started work for the company in June, 2003 as a sales executive in the marine division but joined the sales team in September, 2006.

The mother-of-one said her treatment by Pete Smith and other male members of the sales team drove her to take anti-depressants.

She claims she was ostracised within the department and made to feel an outsider. "I was regularly excluded from conversations which involved the sales team be it general office banter or daily work conversations," she said.

She once found Pete Smith, Kevin Ward and Laurie Wilson laughing at a piece of paper.

She later retrieved it from a bin. "It comprised a drawing of me which I found to be very offensive and hurtful," she said.

Miss Ashby regularly overheard colleagues whispering or talking about her in derogatory terms.

Mr Ward circulated an email to staff called the "wee run" in which it stated if anyone wanted a "slash" they had to do it before 4.15pm to avoid leaving work early.

Miss Ashby says this referred to her as the previous day she worked all day in the office without a toilet break then had to dash home to use the loo.

Another email sent by Mr Ward to the sales team read: "If you have a FAT FAT face then you do not need to read this."

Miss Ashby claims it was a further dig at her weight.

She said she found the constant jibes "demeaning"and they were designed to belittle her in front of other staff.

When she finally submitted her grievance, the company's managing director Justin Salisbury told her she had a personality which "------" people off" and "in 20 years of business, Cathelco had only ever had a problem with women."

Miss Ashby claims at a later meeting Mr Salisbury told her "they had been very understanding and that he could easily have told me to ---- off."

She said the "laddish" attitude displayed by management was typified in an email sent to the company receptionist and forwarded to all staff by Mr Salisbury which said to her "either come to work or ---- off."

Another email to staff from management stated "Will the dirty bastard responsible for the disgusting unwashed crockery in the kitchen please cease behaving like a tosser and kindly clean up after him/herself".

Miss Ashby, who earned £13,500 a year, says she was also paid less and treated less favourably than her male comparators in terms of salary and bonus pay.

She claims her grievance was not properly investigated by the company because she was a female and she resigned in October, 2008.

She told the tribunal: "There is something of a boys' club atmosphere within Cathelco where females are deemed as being over emotional and sensitive if they have a complaint and who, during my time with Cathelco had to clearly work twice as hard as the male members of staff to gain career or monetary progression."

She added that males were fast-tracked to better jobs because they fitted in with the culture.

She said: "Many male members of staff play football and poker together and go to the gym together. I do not think that this culture helped me obtain a fair investigation of my grievances."

After a year unemployed she now works as an administrator at Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Hospital.

Cross-examined by Barry Warne for Cathelco she admitted Pete Smith did not make any sexual advances towards her.

But she said a female colleague's life was "made hell" by his sexual harassment of her. "Pete Smith manipulated, influenced people and played games," she said.

The company denies all the allegations.

The hearing continues.

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Two-Year-Old Dies After Being Left in a Sweltering Van By Daycare Staff

A two-year-old girl was found dead in a day care center van after staff left her inside for two hours in the sweltering afternoon sun.

Jasmine Green is thought to have fallen asleep between the seats on the ride back from a field trip to Chuck E. Cheese in Jonesboro, Georgia.

When the children arrived back at the center, staff failed to notice she was still in the vehicle—and didn’t realize she was missing for more than two hours, as temperatures soared into the 90s.

Her death came just one day after a nine-month-old boy in South Carolina was found dead when his father left him inside his car for four hours.

It also emerged that Marlo’s Magnificent Early Learning Center had been cited by the state before for not properly documenting a field trip, and was supposed to have introduced a proper system by the end of March.

Jasmine’s distraught parents sobbed outside as they questioned how the staff could have left her in the vehicle, where temperatures inside are likely to have reached up to 138F after 15 minutes.

April McAlister said: ‘They left my baby in the van… forgetting that she was in there. I want to see justice served.’

The children went on the trip yesterday afternoon, returning at about 1:30pm.

Staff checked all the children off the van and back into the center – including Jasmine’s four-year-old brother, Savion.

But they left the little girl behind by mistake, and didn’t realize she was missing until 3.30pm.

They immediately rang police and Jasmine was taken to Southern Regional Medical Center, but it was too late.

Jasmine and her brother had attended Marlo’s daycare center since they were babies.

Their father, Checo Green, told Channel 11: ‘My daughter trusted them folks like she trusted me. I don’t know why they would leave my daughter out of all the people when they know her.’

He and his wife are now demanding that the daycare center be shut down.

Mrs. McAlister said the first she knew was when staff called her and said she should go to the hospital – but they didn’t say why.

She said: ‘And when I got there, they told me my baby went into cardiac arrest. They left my baby in the van.’

Mrs. McAlister sobbed into her husband’s arms as she said: ‘They took my baby! She was a beautiful girl. She was so smart and just lovable and playful.’

Mr. Green said: ‘It’s hot. It’s Georgia. Who forgets children in a van? Who?’

Police lieutenant Tina Daniels told Channel 11: ‘Zero seconds, zero seconds is the amount of time a child should be left alone in a car to prevent something like this from happening.’

Officers are investigating her death, but no charges have yet been filed.

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