Country Road Group engulfed by sexual assault scandal

A senior executive at the company has been forced to resign after allegations of repeated harassment of staff members while the chief executive has been accused of protecting his friend.

Multiple allegations have been made about former Country Road Group executive Rachid Maliki.

A sexual harassment scandal has engulfed one of the country’s biggest retailers, implicating its CEO, and forcing the resignation of a senior executive.

The Herald Sun can reveal two legal firms have been appointed to investigate the handling of sexual assault allegations by Country Road Group after multiple allegations by males and females were filed against former senior executive Rachid Maliki.

Staff have accused the fashion brand, and CEO Raju Vuppalapati, of what they see as a cover-up over Mr Maliki’s conduct, amid allegations of the repeated harassment of staff members including unsolicited touching and kissing.

Formal complaints were first lodged in October last year, but whistleblower staff have accused Mr Vuppalapati of protecting his friend, and former colleague at RM Williams, Mr Maliki.

CEO Raju Vuppalapati has been accused of protecting his friend Mr Maliki.

Mr Maliki, who had been in the senior role since August 2022, had previously worked as a general manager at RM Williams while Mr Vuppalapati was chief executive of the shoe retailer.

Multiple sources said Mr Maliki faced similar allegations while at RM Williams.

After being appointed CEO of Country Road in 2021, Mr Vuppalapati brought Mr Maliki in to work for him in the senior leadership role.

In a memo to staff in March Roy Bagattini, the executive director and group chief executive of Country Road’s parent company, Woolworths Holdings, addressed staff concerns that complaints about sexual harassment “had not been heard and the process to address the complaints took far too long”.

He also flew to Australia from the company’s South African headquarters to meet with staff.

Mr Bagattini, who also worked with Mr Vuppalati at Levi Strauss & Co., said as a result he had authorised the commissioning of an independent review by an external consultancy to investigate the handling of team member complaints.

“He apologised and announced there would be two law firms hired to investigate how the situation was handled,” one whistleblower said.

“He said he would have results in two weeks. Last week he emailed to say it would now be end of June,” they said.

“The place is burning at the moment. Everyone is so unhappy and so disappointed in management and what they continue to do to us.”

Another staff member accused the fashion brand of a “cover up”.

“People were definitely angry that action wasn’t taken sooner, it shouldn’t have taken multiple people coming forward,” the insider said.

“It was as if Raju was trying to protect his mate and cover it up.

“I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Rachid resigned.”

A Country Road Group spokesperson refused to answer direct questions and insisted Woolworths Holdings had “taken prompt action”.

“The Country Road Group (CRG) takes any complaint of harassment, including sexual harassment, very seriously and has a zero-tolerance policy for matters of this nature,” she said.

“Having received feedback from some team members regarding the handling of their complaints, our parent company Woolworths Holdings Limited (WHL) has taken prompt action, including the commissioning of an independent investigation to look into this matter.

“It is critically important to us that our workplace is one where all team members feel safe, valued and included.

“We strongly encourage all parties to avoid speculation on outcomes prior to the completion of the independent investigation.”

Mr Maliki has been contacted for comment.