Court stays proceedings against TRG board

The Resource Group International Limited (TRG) said in a notice to the stock exchange on Friday that the proceedings against the board of directors in a defamation suit brought by former chief executive officer (CEO) Zia Chishti in a district and sessions court in Karachi have been stayed by the Sindh High Court (SHC).

Following Chishti’s accusation, a district and sessions judge authorised the issuance of bailable warrants against a number of TRG associates last month. A hearing was held before the SHC on March 20 and a few days later the warrants were suspended and the lower court procedures were halted.

After an ex-employee of Afiniti, a TRG portfolio business, testified in a US Congressional hearing in support of an arbitration decision against him for sexual harassment and assault, Chishti left TRG in November 2021.

The testimony was a component of the “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment” proposed Congressional bill, which President Joe Biden subsequently signed into law in the early months of 2022.

The complete wording of the judgment, which included $5 million in damages for the former employee and findings of non-consensual assault, was made public by the US Congress later in 2022.

Market sources claimed that after his departure from TRG in late 2021, Chishti had made fruitless attempts to return there; however, given the seriousness of his acts and reputation, the company’s management had denied those attempts.