Finlays’ response to allegations of human rights violations in the tea supply chain – August 2023

Firstly, in regards to the news report about an injury alleged to have taken place at Namdang Tea Estate, our suppliers have confirmed this is a case of mistaken identity/error in reporting. The news report relates to an incident at Samdang Tea Estate located at Doomdooma, not Namdang Tea Estate. The news report also specifically identifies the Company owning the Estate and we can confirm it is not our suppliers McLeod Russel India Limited (MRIL). There has been no accident at Namdang Tea Estate as reported in the said news item. Samdang is not part of the Finlays supply chain.

With regards to the incident at Dufflaghur tea estate where a worker was killed involving heavy machinery, we can confirm this tea estate is part of our supply chain and we that have bought tea from McLeod Russel India Limited (MRIL) that was produced on this site in previous years, though we have not purchased anything since the reported incident took place.

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Full response below.