CBC puts two managers on leave after Ghomeshi probe

[January 06, 2015]  TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian Broadcasting Corp said on Monday it has placed two executives at the heart of a scandal involving former radio personality Jian Ghomeshi on leaves of absence, effective immediately.

The CBC's head of human resources and industrial relations, Todd Spencer, and its executive director of radio, Chris Boyce, will both take an unspecified break from their duties, the public broadcaster said on Twitter.

Ghomeshi was fired in October and charged with sexual assault in November, after the CBC said it had seen graphic evidence he had injured a woman in what he said were consensual acts of bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism in sex.

The CBC has hired an external investigator to probe allegations that Ghomeshi, a former folk-rock musician who is a household name in Canada, assaulted or harassed several CBC colleagues, including one former employee who said her complaints to the CBC about Ghomeshi's behavior were not followed up.

A spokesman for the CBC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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