FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
China Labor Watch has agreed to Intertek’s request to postpone the date they must respond to the lawsuit by 30 days, to January 12th, 2012. They were initially required to respond by December 13th, 2011.
Intertek is an auditing firm which inspects factories on behalf of multinational companies and certifies that they do not violate their clients’ corporate responsibility guidelines. CLW filed suit against Intertek last month because it publicized the identity of a whistleblower, Yuan Chaowen,who reported to Intertek that an Intertek employee was accepting bribes to change the results of the Hang Fat factory’s audits. This disclosure was in breach of an agreement that CLW had made with Intertek. According to the terms of this agreement, CLW would introduce Yuan to Intertek so that it could improve its auditing process, but only if Intertek did not disclose Yuan’s identity and his relationship with CLW. Since his name was disclosed by Intertek in their company newsletter, he has received anonymous threatening phone calls and has been arbitrarily questioned by the local police. The grounds upon which CLW brought the suit include interference with business relationship and libel.
CLW is committed to seeking justice in this dispute and still hopes that Intertek will choose to work with us towards that end. We will continue to provide updates on this case as it proceeds.