STAFF at Oxfam’s Bolton shop remained tight-lipped yesterday, refusing to comment on the scandal engulfing the charity.

One staff member at the shop in Blackburn Road said that they had been advised not to comment.

The scandal rocking the global aid charity erupted after it was revealed that several Oxfam staff members sent to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, including the then country director Roland van Hauwermeiren, had used prostitutes. Questions are being asked about whether the girls involved were under age.

Complaints about van Hauwermeiren and another man when working in Chad had also previously been made to senior Oxfam staff, but they were allowed to continue working.

In a statement Oxfam said that the behaviour of staff members in Haiti was “totally unacceptable, contrary to our values and the high standards we expect of our staff.”

This afternoon Oxfam’s deputy chief executive Penny Lawrence resigned.

She said: “I am ashamed that this happened on my watch and I take full responsibility.”