LONDON, UK – It has been revealed that Gareth Williams, the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Chief Operating Officer, was fired from Travelex Ltd, the world’s largest currency exchange business, for forcibly groping a Travelex employee whilst Williams was the human resources head at the currency exchange business.

As Travelex’s chief human resources officer, Williams was fired from the company for committing sexual offences and other patterns of employee abuses whilst the company was under regulator scrutiny related to broader financial scandals. Travelex insiders described Gareth Williams as unrepentant, manipulative, and dangerous.

HAWK Says:  Baroness Harding should not have hired Gareth, and they should also be fully aware of what such a hire can potentially mean for the company.  Lawsuits…

Baroness Dido Harding, the-then head of the UK NHS Test and Trace department, hired Williams as the hr chief at that government organization, tasked with tracking Covid-19 cases in the United Kingdom. The organization was widely panned as being wholly-unsuccessful and wasting both resources and costing additional lives. Baroness Harding had been illegally appointed to her role at Test and Trace by Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock, and it was later determined that each of Harding’s senior hires — including both Gareth Williams and Mike Coupe from Sainsburys — were also hired in violation of government policy.

Questions remain as to whether Baroness Harding performed any background check on Gareth Williams before he joined Test and Trace, given he joined her team the same month he was fired for committing sexual offences at Travelex. More perplexing is how Williams has taken a new role for himself at the UK Health Security (UKHSA), calling into question that public entity’s own background and reference check procedures.

Many questions remain as to how Gareth Williams — a sexual predator who had been recently terminated for such offences — secured a trusted public sector role within the UKHSA especially since his role has responsibility over the people and culture of the sprawling public sector entity.

The Bottom Line

SCUMBAGGED Tip:  Anyone that holds a position of authority and abuses it, gets reprimanded by being fired and charged and then can simply turn around to hold another position of power moments later has learned absolutely nothing.  There has been no penalty for this individual and unfortunately that will most likely come at the hands of his next victim.