SFO may face legal challenge on Weavering, The FT
31 May 2012
Investors demand hedge fund
fraud probe is reopened as court rules founder Magnus Peterson committed deceit
and awards creditors over $450m.
Chevron sued in Canada over Ecuador case, The FT
31 May 2012
Plaintiffs who won an $18.2bn environmental damages case against oil major Chevron in Ecuador after 19 years of litigation have turned to Canada to enforce the ruling. In the first of several actions expected to be launched worldwide, lawyer Alan Lenczner filed a suit in the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario on Wednesday seeking the seizure of shares and assets of Chevron Canada.
NZ: Charges laid against Herbert Insurance founder, National Business Review
31 May 2012
Herbert Insurance Group owner Grant Malcolm Herbert has been charged with 28 counts under the Crimes Act and Secret Commissions Act related to the collapse of his boutique insurance brokerage. Mr Herbert, 61, has been the subject of a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation since March last year, when his Auckland-based brokerage collapsed owing millions to the country's largest insurers. He appeared today in Auckland District Court, where the charges were laid. No plea was entered.
NZ: Puraz pinged for misleading ad, National Business Review
31 May 2012
A television advert for Puraz collagen tablets over-dramatised the product's wrinkle-free effects, says the Advertising Standards Authority. The ad featured the image of an older woman with heavy wrinkles morphing into a young wrinkle-free face, which complainant D McLaren found unrealistic. It was accompanied by the dialogue: "Only the unique Puraz formulation does from the inside what you can't achieve from the outside, firming your skin and reducing the appearance of wrinkles."
Abacus Bank, 19 People Charged in Fannie Mae Loan Fraud, Bloomberg
31 May 2012
Abacus Federal Savings Bank and 19 individuals were charged with mortgage fraud and accused of selling hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent loans toFannie Mae (FNMA), Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said. "The lessons of the financial crisis are still being learned,” Vance said today at a press conference. He said senior employees at the bank trained others to falsify loan documents so unqualified borrowers could qualify for loans and the bank could earn fees, commissions and other funds by selling the loans to Fannie Mae.
Walmart faces revolt over 'bribes', The Telegraph
31 May 2012
"I'm not expecting any impact as it relates to new store growth," Doug McMillon, head of Walmart's international business, said on Thursday. "A moment like this causes you to be on your toes and get even stronger." The world's largest retailer is braced for a shareholder protest in the wake of allegations that up to $24m (15.6m pounds) was paid to Mexican officials to help speed up Walmart's expansion in the country. Executives including chief executive Mike Duke have also been accused of failing to fully investigate when they were reported to have been made aware of them in 2005.
Wal-Mart urges worker integrity amid bribery probe, Reuters
30 May 2012
Top executives of Wal-Mart Stores Inc did not directly mention a Mexican bribery
scandal at an employee pep rally on Wednesday, but asked their international
workers to focus on "integrity" as a core value. The world's largest retailer has been under fire from shareholders and
activists after the New York Times reported in April that management at Wal-Mart
de Mexico, or Walmex, allegedly orchestrated bribes of $24 million to help it
grow quickly last decade and that Wal-Mart's top brass tried to cover it up.
Lord Browne calls for action on homophobia, The FT
30 May 2012
British business is becoming more gay-friendly but has further to go in fighting homophobia and developing top-level role models, corporate leaders and equality campaigners said on Wednesday. They were responding to a call by Lord Browne, former chief executive of BP, for companies to do more to end discrimination against gay people. "My sense is that the business world remains more intolerant of homosexuality than other worlds such as the legal profession, the media and the visual arts … I am one of a handful of publicly gay people to have run a FTSE 100 company,” he said.
Top US companies shelling out to block action on climate change, The Guardian
30 May 2012
Some of America's top companies are spending heavily to block action on climate change or discredit climate science, despite public commitments to sustainable and green values, a new report has found. An analysis of 28 Standard & Poor 500 publicly traded companies by researchers from the Union of Concerned Scientists exposed a sharp disconnect in some cases between PR message and less visible activities, with companies quietly lobbying against climate policy or funding groups which work to discredit climate science.
Apple's efforts fail to end gruelling conditions at Foxconn factories, The Guardian
30 May 2012
Gruelling workloads, humiliating punishments and battery-farm living conditions remain routine for workers assembling Apple's luxury electronics, according to one of the most detailed reports yet on life inside China's Foxconn factories. The researchers claim that intimidation, exhaustion and labour rights violations "remain the norm" for the hundreds of thousands of Chinese iPhone workers, despite Apple redoubling its efforts to improve conditions. Interviews with 170 workers and supervisors at Foxconn factories in the cities of Shenzhen and Zhengzhou from March to May this year found that punishments remain a key management tool.
Miss Selfridge interns finally get paid – a year late, The Guardian
30 May 2012
The multibillion-pound clothing retail group Arcadia, which runs some of the UK high street's biggest names, including Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins, has sent retrospective payments worth hundreds of pounds to dozens of its former unpaid interns, the Guardian has learned. Interns who worked at Arcadia's head office in London said they have received cheques for their labour up to a year after their placement with the company's PR department ended. Arcadia had been using dozens of unpaid interns to ship clothing back and forth to media contacts from a "windowless" stockroom, former interns told the Guardian.
Bribe claims sour Walmart anniversary, The FT
30 May 2012
Independent investors are taking aim at Walmart’s tight-knit culture, which they blame for a Mexican corruption scandal that is threatening to spoil the company’s 50th birthday party on Friday. "Walmart is controlled by the Walton family and other insiders steeped in the ‘Walmart way’,” said John Liu, the New York City comptroller who oversees five public pension funds that will vote against certain Walmart directors at the retailer’s annual meeting in Arkansas. "Outside share owners need strong, independent directors willing to challenge this dominant culture when necessary to protect long-term share owner value.”
Hedge fund 'liar' fined record £3m and banned, The Independent
30 May 2012
A London hedge fund manager accused by the Financial Services Authority of
lying to investors about "catastrophic losses" has been fined a record £3m by
the watchdog. Alberto Micalizzi, 43, whose $500m (£318m) Dynamic Decisions hedge fund
collapsed in 2009, has also been banned for life from working in regulated
financial services.
WPP chief faces investor revolt over pay, The FT
29 May 2012
Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, faces a shareholder revolt over his pay after an influential advisory firm recommended investors in the advertising group vote against its board remuneration policies. ISS advises about a fifth of the shareholders of WPP, according to investors. In addition, at least another three top 10 shareholders, which own about 10 per cent of the company’s shares, say they will vote against the board remuneration policies at WPP’s annual meeting on June 13.
JPMorgan in Japan insider trading probe, The FT
29 May 2012
JPMorgan’s reputation suffered another blow as it became apparent that one of its employees leaked non-public information that was used by a Japanese hedge fund accused of insider trading. The US investment bank indicated in a statement that it has been in discussions with the Japanese regulator about the leaking of information on a new share issue by Nippon Sheet Glass before its announcement in August 2010.
iPhone manufacturer Foxconn to double worker salaries by 2013, ZDNet China
29 May 2012
The base salary in Foxconn’s Chinese manufacturing bases will be lifted to RMB 4,400 ($700) per month by the end of 2013, from current RMB 2,200 ($350) per month, Taiwan-based Business Weekly reported last week, citing Foxconn’s President Terry Gou. mGou also aims to raise the entrance labor wages to RMB 4,000 ($635) by the end of this year in China firstly, which represents an 82 percent jump from current RMB 2,200 ($350), to exceed the entry-level wage of graduate students working for its headquarter in Taiwan. Foxconn will have its employees "reasonably paid”, Gou said during an event in China this month.
Sixth Former CCI Exec Pleads Guilty In Foreign Bribery Case, WSJ
29 May 2012
A former director of international sales for industrial valve manufacturer
Control Components Inc. pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating a U.S. foreign
bribery law. Paul Cosgrove admitted he violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in
federal district court in Santa Ana, Calif. The plea is the latest to come out a
of a long-running corruption investigation into CCI, which makes service control
valves for energy projects, and company executives. Cosgrove, 65, faces up to 15 months in prison. His sentencing is scheduled
for Aug. 27.
Bank of America whistleblower receives $14.5 million in mortgage case, Reuters
29 May 2012
A former home appraiser will receive $14.5 million as part of a whistleblower
lawsuit that accused subprime lender Countrywide Financial of inflating
appraisals on government-insured loans, his attorneys said
Tuesday. Kyle Lagow's lawsuit sparked an investigation that culminated in a $1 billion
settlement announced in February between Bank of America Corp (BAC.N)
and the U.S. Justice Department over allegations of mortgage fraud at
Countrywide, his attorneys said in a news release. Bank of America bought
Countrywide in 2008.
Barclays fights back over tax dodge claim, The Times
29 May 2012
The row over an alleged £300 million tax dodge by Barclays has re-erupted,
with its chief executive accusing ministers and the tax authorities of a
"completely unwarranted” attack on the bank.
In a letter to the Treasury Select Committee published yesterday, Bob Diamond
said that his bank had been unfairly singled out and identified in a way
that caused it unnecessary reputational damage.
Adidas India chiefs accused of huge warehouse fraud, The Times
29 May 2012
Executives in India used a network of secret warehouses to siphon off
adidas shoes and clothing worth millions of pounds that had been
fraudulently booked as sales, according to the sportswear maker. The
German group, which is suing two former senior officers of its Indian
company over what it considers to be a significant corporate fraud, has
turned to Control Risks, the investigations specialist, to build a case
against the men, who on Saturday were denied bail by a court in Gurgaon,
a satellite city of Delhi.
Blue Index director admits insider dealing, The FT
28 May 2012
The owner of a specialist City brokerage and his wife are to be sentenced next month after orchestrating "a long-running, sophisticated and very profitable” insider dealing scam using tip-offs from a relative living in the US. James Sanders, a director of Blue Index, a contract for difference brokerage, has admitted 10 charges of insider dealing and his wife Miranda pleaded guilty to five charges. Mr Sanders passed information to co-director James Swallow who has pleaded guilty to three charges. All three will be sentenced on June 19.
Male corporate elite bars women's way to top, says study of headhunters, The Guardian
28 May 2012
The "male-dominated corporate elite" occupying the boardrooms of the UK's biggest companies is deterring the appointment of women to the upper echelons of corporate Britain, the equalities watchdog has warned. The first in-depth study of recruitment of non-executive directors by headhunters, carried out for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, finds that the men who hold the majority of seats around the tables of the 350 biggest companies listed in London tend to select new members with similar characteristics to themselves.
Sacked Olympus boss Woodford starts fight against unfair dismissal, The Independent
28 May 2012
Michael Woodford, the British whistleblower sacked from Japanese cameras and
endoscopes giant Olympus, begins his multi-million-pound unfair dismissal case
against the company at a London tribunal today. Woodford, who was the first westerner to work his way up to the top of a
Japanese company, is to sue for up to 10 years' lost pay, citing UK laws on
unfair dismissal for whistleblowing and discrimination. He was ousted from his
job as chief executive after questioning the board about a $1.7bn (£1.1bn)
fraud. Rather than act on his concerns, the Olympus board unanimously voted to
sack him.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust in insider trading probe, The FT
28 May 2012
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust, one of Japan’s largest banks, is being investigated for alleged insider trading in a widening crackdown by Japanese regulators.The bank, Japan’s fourth-largest by market capitalisation, on Monday said it was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission for insider trading by an employee.
It is time that business schools learnt to walk the walk, The FT
28 May 2012
The bonus season for banks brings something less welcome for business schools. Questions return about the role of business education in producing a culture in the financial sector that appears insensitive to the fate of those stuck at the bottom of the economy. Do business schools do enough to instil a sense of empathy, to say nothing of responsibility, in their graduates, educating them to respond not just to their powerful shareholders but to their many stakeholders in society?
NZ: Forum set up to get more women up the ranks of banks, National Business Review
28 May 2012
A forum has been set up to help boost the number of women among senior ranks in the financial services industry. Bank of New Zealand teamed up with the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia) and Bank of New Zealand to launch the ‘ Women in Financial Services Forum’. The reason d’etre is to get more women in senior, middle and executive roles in the banking sector.
Security boss charged over £2.4m bank deception, The Times
26 May 2012
A former head of digital banking security at Lloyds Banking Group has
been charged with fraud over allegations that she falsely claimed
payments of £2.46 million from the bank. Jessica Harper, 50, who
left Lloyds this year, is accused of abusing her position by submitting a
string of false invoices over a three-year period. The Crown
Prosecution Service said that she would appear before Westminster
Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. Her arrest came after an internal
investigation by the bank, after which the Metropolitan Police were
called in.
Insider trader boasted about board contact at Goldmans, The Times
25 May 2012
The jury in the insider trading trial of a former Goldman Sachs
director heard recordings yesterday of the jailed hedge fund founder Raj
Rajaratnam bragging about tips he allegedly received from one of the
bank’s board members. Rajat Gupta, who ran the consulting firm
McKinsey for almost a decade, is accused of leaking company secrets to
Rajaratnam, the Galleon Group founder who was convicted of insider
trading last year.
Autonomy exits reveal HP culture clash, The FT
24 May 2012
As many as a quarter of the
staff at Autonomy quit the British software group soon after its acquisition by
HP, former employees said, with one likening the US computer maker’s internal
procedures to "being water-boarded” almost daily.
Facebook accused of misleading investors, The Independent
24 May 2012
Mark Zuckerberg and the other directors of Facebook have been slapped with a
lawsuit claiming they defrauded investors in the company's $104bn (£66.29bn)
stock market float last week. The suit – which also names Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Goldman Sachs and other
banks who underwrote the flotation as defendants – follows allegations that at
least one Facebook executive gave secret guidance to select analysts, thereby
leading them to cut their forecasts for advertising revenues at the social
network.
Hong Kong tycoon charged with bribery, The FT
24 May 2012
Shares in Chinese Estates Holdings were suspended in Hong Kong on Thursday after Joseph Lau, its chairman, was charged overnight with bribery and money laundering in Macau. The allegations are likely to further tarnish the reputation of Hong Kong developers and could undermine efforts to improve Macau’s corporate image. The allegations are the latest twist in a case brought by the Commission Against Corruption of Macau, the anti-graft watchdog, against Ao Man-long, Macau’s former secretary of transport and public works, who was jailed for 28 years in 2009 on separate corruption charges.
NZ: Finance sector blokey, sporty say women, NZ Herald
24 May 2012
Women who work in the New Zealand financial services sector still see it as a "blokey" male-dominated industry where much of the networking is based around either watching or participating in sport, according to research by the industry. The survey carried out by Financial Service Institute of Australasia (Finsia) in conjunction with the Bank of New Zealand questioned 272 men and women in New Zealand as part of an Australasia-wide project. It found major differences in opinion between the sexes when it came to gender perceptions of equality in management, promotions, and pay.
KFC denies Greenpeace sourcing allegations, Supply Management
24 May 2012
Fast-food chain KFC has strongly denied allegations from Greenpeace that some of its packaging contains material sourced from Indonesian rainforests. The claims, which appeared in a report published by the campaign group, were also rejected by supplier Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), who Greenpeace alleged used timber from rainforests.
FIFA Fiasco: Scandals Exposed At CONCACAF Meeting, WSJ
24 May 2012
As the governing body of North American, Caribbean and Central American soccer
met this week ahead of FIFA meetings in Budapest, new scandal gripped
the organization. John Collins, legal counsel for the body, which goes by the acronym CONCACAF, testified to the 40-nation body that after a five-month
investigation, he found, among other things, that former general secretary Chuck
Blazer failed to correctly report taxes for at least four years, and that
ex-president Jack Warner registered a $22.5 million soccer center in his own
name.
Job Security and Meaningful Work in High Demand for Today's Workforce, CSR Wire
23 May 2012
A new nationwide study examining work life and jobs with meaning finds that 65% of university students expect to make an impact on causes and issues they care about in their future job. The study, Net Impact’s Talent Report: What Workers Want in 2012, is a nationally representative sample of college-educated workers in three generations—Millennials, GenerationXers and Baby Boomers - and current college students.
Tolerance of fraud rises, says report, The FT
23 May 2012
The economic downturn has seen a startling increase in the number of high-level managers willing to pay bribes for new business and to misstate their financial performance, according to research from Ernst & Young. In its 2012 global fraud survey, the accounting firm said that globally, 15 per cent of the corporate professionals it interviewed from 43 countries said a downturn would justify making a cash payment in order to secure business – up from 9 per cent in 2010. Five per cent said they would consider misstating their financial performance, up from 3 per cent in 2010, according to the survey.
Adidas files fraud complaint in India, The FT
23 May 2012
Adidas has filed a criminal complaint in India against two former executives of its Reebok India subsidiary in connection with an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud, police officials said. The German sports goods group, which last month revealed a potential €125m hit from "commercial irregularities” at its Reebok India unit, said on Wednesday it was in contact with Indian police over an investigation of the case but did not disclose further details.
Ex-Sino-Forest chief accused of fraud, The FT
23 May 2012
Canadian authorities have formally accused Allan Chan and other former Sino-Forest executives of fraud, a year after the first allegations of misconduct caused shares in the Chinese forestry company to collapse, and have said that an investigation continues into the "role of the gatekeepers”. The move indicates a widening of the inquiry beyond the activities of executives, led by Mr Chan, the group’s founder and until August, its chairman and chief executive, to the role of financial intermediaries.
US pension fund to oppose Walmart directors, The FT
23 May 2012
Calstrs, the second-largest US public pension fund, will vote against the re-election of Walmart’s directors at the retailer’s shareholder meeting next week as allegations of bribery in Mexico hang over the company. The pension fund, which manages money for California teachers, said it would vote against the entire board as it alleged that current and former Walmart leaders had not reacted to signs of "unethical conduct” and that the board lacked independence.
NZ: Career advancement of women 'low priority', National Business Review
23 May 2012
Women across New Zealand and Australia perceive their career advancement as a low priority in the organisations they work for. That is the finding of research conducted by the Bank of New Zealand and Financial Services Institute of Australasia. The research, which interviewed more than 1000 financial industry professionals in both countries, found about 69% of women were not convinced about the transparency of their organisation when it came to remuneration and pay parity between genders. Thirtysix percent of women maintained they were treated differently to male co-workers.
Welfare to work 'fraud scandal', The Telegraph
23 May 2012
The welfare to work firm owned by David Cameron’s former families tsar is involved in a "multi-billion-pound scandal” in which public money has been systematically misused, a whistleblower has said.
Ex-Goldman man faces insider dealing charges, The Independent
22 May 2012
The great and the good of the Indian business community may be fiercely
protesting his innocence on the web and in interviews, but a jury of ordinary
New Yorkers will decide the fate of Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs board
member whose trial for insider trading got under way yesterday.Mr Gupta is the most senior businessman to face charges after a huge
sweep of insider trading arrests in the US, and prosecutors signalled they will
rely on wiretapped conversations in which he is alleged to have passed on
boardroom secrets to the hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, who is already
serving 11 years for insider dealing.
Wonga under fire from OFT, MT
22 May 2012
Payday loans company Wonga, which has been criticised for the high interest rates it charges customers, has been told by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) that its debt collection practices breach regulations. The OFT published its criticism after seeing letters telling some customers that they may have committed fraud and that Wonga would turn them into the police if the customer did not act as requested.
Companies Shun Business Over Corruption Risk, But Lose To Rivals, WSJ
22 May 2012
A new survey from Dow Jones Risk & Compliance shows corruption risk making
companies increasingly reluctant to take on new partners or do business in
emerging markets, at the same time as more of those companies find they’re
losing business to rivals without such scruples.
One in 10 executive boardroom appointments go to women, The Guardian
22 May 2012
Women claimed just one in 10 executive boardroom appointments over the past year despite ministers' demands that the biggest companies install more women at the top table. A report by Deloitte found that companies are beginning to increase the number of women on their boards, but warned that most were being appointed to non-executive positions rather than more important executive roles.
EU warns Google to change or face fines, The FT
21 May 2012
Europe’s top antitrust enforcer on Monday delivered an ultimatum to Google to put its house in order or risk hefty fines, in the most significant transatlantic competition spat since Brussels waged its legal war with Microsoft a decade ago. The US search giant now has "a matter of weeks” to make a decision on whether to change its business voluntarily to address serious competition concerns even though it says they are unjustified.
Stuttering Asda worker sacked after being branded aggressive, tribunal hears, The Telegraph
21 May 2012
The 30-year-old was accused of talking loudly and gesticulating at a colleague in front of a customer but protested that his noisy behaviour was simply an effort to get the words out. The panel heard that Adnan Malik had had a speech impediment since birth and was simply communicating with his colleague, who was on the check-out at Asda store at the time, in July last year.
Fidelity manager faces Hong Kong ban, The FT
20 May 2012
A former Fidelity Management portfolio manager already found to have committed market misconduct is due before a tribunal on Monday to learn whether he will be banned from trading in Hong Kong for selling shares ahead of a Chinese rights issue. The Hong Kong Market Misconduct Tribunal found last month that George Stairs, who managed Fidelity’s International Value Fund and co-managed the Total International Equity Fund, improperly placed an order to sell shares in Chaoda Modern Agriculture (Holdings) Ltd, a fruit and vegetable supplier, after being told it was planning a sizeable equity placing.
Rail fat cats send £700m to offshore tax havens, The Sunday Times
20 May 2012
THE three companies that own Britain’s trains have paid their offshore owners
almost £700m in dividends since 2008.
Angel Trains, Porterbrook and Eversholt paid out the bumper awards through
holding companies in Jersey and Luxembourg. The big dividends are revealed
as the rest of the railway is trying to find £3.5 billion in savings.
Revolts at Shell and HSBC, The Sunday Times
20 May 2012
HSBC and Shell are expected to feel the heat of the "shareholder spring” this
week after an influential adviser urged investors to vote down their pay
plans.
Robert Walters, the recruitment consultant, is also likely to face a rebellion
after deciding to boost the salaries of its bosses, despite having suffered
an embarrassing defeat on pay at its annual meeting last year.
The encounters are the latest in a series of clashes between investors and
boards as years of frustration over soaring levels of executive pay come to
a head. A remarkable wave of activism that began with the unseating of
Michael Queen as chief executive at 3i, the private equity firm, has gone on
to claim the scalps of bosses from Astra Zeneca, Trinity Mirror and Aviva.
Lloyds sent bankers on luxury spa break, The Telegraph
18 May 2012
A dozen bosses from the bank, which is 40 per cent owned by UK taxpayers, enjoyed a two-day trip to Champneys where they were given a bespoke therapy course to help them recuperate from work stress. The celebrity spa resort created a programme to teach them how to avoid "bail out, burn out or being booted out", reports claim.
NZ: Bridgecorp director Rob Roest gets six and a half years, National Business Review
18 May 2012
Bridgecorp finance director Rob Roest, seen as equally the most culpable in the $459 million collapse, has been jailed for six years and six months. In Auckland High Court Justice Geoff Venning gave Roest a 10% discount from a starting point of seven and a half years but said Roest did not accept the verdicts and still regarded himself as innocent.
Cairn Energy faces shareholder rebellion over pay, The Guardian
17 May 2012
Cairn Energy, which has spearheaded controversial oil drilling in the Arctic, has become the biggest victim of the "shareholder spring" with 67% of investors voting down its pay reporton Thursday. There were a further 10% of abstentions at Cairn on a day that also saw sizeable rebellions at Cookson, the industrial group, and the insurers Prudential and Resolution in protest at excessive pay.
NZ: Sky faces probe as net deals criticised, NZ Herald
17 May 2012
Newscorp-controlled Sky Television is being probed by the Commerce Commission amid growing criticism it is limiting competition in New Zealand's unregulated pay television market. Sky went from the frying pan into the fire when the commission approved the Igloo TV joint venture with state broadcaster TVNZ only to announce an investigation into its deals with internet service providers.
Bribery Case at Wal-Mart May Widen, New York Times
17 May 2012
As Wal-Mart reported higher-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Thursday, it suggested in a regulatory filing that the scope of an internal investigation into bribery accusations had widened beyond the retailer’s subsidiary in Mexico.
Alliance Boots defends tax bill, The FT
16 May 2012
Stefano Pessina, executive chairman of Alliance Boots, defended the amount of tax paid by the pharmaceutical wholesaler and retail chain as he revealed he was eyeing a merger rather than an initial public offering as an eventual exit for the company’s owners. Alliance Boots said on Wednesday that it paid £83m in cash tax, of which £26m was paid in the UK in the year to March 31, 2012. This compared with a £59m tax bill the previous year, with £10m paid in the UK.
FSA pursues ban on former BGC executive, The FT
16 May 2012
The City watchdog is seeking to ban a former top executive at BGC based on a civil court ruling that he led an unlawful poaching conspiracy against a rival interdealer broker and did not tell the truth about it in court. Anthony Verrier, who left Tullett Prebon in 2008 to join BGC as executive managing director, plans to fight the case at the Upper Tribunal, which hears disputed enforcement cases.
FBI opens investigation into JPMorgan losses, The Independent
16 May 2012
The FBI has opened an investigation into the losses racked up at JPMorgan
Chase, increasing the pressure on the bank, which is already has Wall Street
regulators looking at last week's massive trading losses. Revelation of the move by the US Justice Department came as Jamie Dimon was
given a bloody nose by investors yesterday as 40 per cent of JPMorgan Chase's
shareholders voted to strip him of the bank's chairmanship.
EU to push for binding investor pay votes, The FT
16 May 2012
Shareholders in Europe’s listed companies will be given a binding vote on pay while those who invest in banks will gain powers to set a cap on bonus levels, under plans being drawn up by senior EU officials, reports the Financial Times. The initiative from Michel Barnier, the EU’s top financial services regulator, would hand bank investors the voting power to curb "morally indefensible” pay and limit the gap between the lowest and highest paid. Banks would also be forced to disclose their top 20-30 earners.
Regulator to probe Lamprell over share dealing ahead of profit warning, The Telegraph
16 May 2012
The company’s shares plunged by almost two thirds after the oil rig maker slashed its profit forecast by 60pc. Two weeks ago, Kevin Isles sold 250,000 shares at 361.7p apiece, banking £904,250. Scott Doak also sold 200,000 shares after selling 21,679 shares in the previous week. Mr Doak’s two sales realised £798,985. The share sales followed an announcement on May 1 that the company had won an order worth $227m (£143m) from an unnamed international drilling contractor.
Barclays director opposed Bob Diamond bonus, The Telegraph
16 May 2012
Alison Carnwath, the head of Barclays remuneration committee, apparently argued against the award of the £2.7m bonus to Mr Diamond, but failed to persuade fellow board members, including chairman Marcus Agius, to back her view. However, the bonus dispute ahead of Barclays's annual shareholder meeting last month led the bank to offer investors a concession on Mr Diamond and finance director Chris Lucas's, annual bonuses that means they will only receive the full award if the lender achieves a return on equity in excess of its cost of equity.
Bankers plan to foil rating agencies, The FT
16 May 2012
Up to 20 of Europe’s top
banks will on Wednesday discuss a plan to foil the dominance of the much
criticised big three credit agencies at a private meeting of finance directors
in Frankfurt.
Best Buy's founder quits over CEO's secret affair, The Independent
15 May 2012
The founder of Best Buy, the biggest electronics retailer on the American
high street, lost his job last night after it was revealed that he had kept
secret the fact that his chief executive was having "an extremely close personal
relationship" with a female employee. Richard Schulze quit as chairman a month after the chief executive, Brian
Dunn, also quit for violations of the company's ethics policy.
Female Network Rail staff in equality fight, The FT
15 May 2012
Thirty-four female middle managers at Network Rail are claiming back-pay of £25,000 each after a survey by a transport union found that women at the company earned an average of £4,500 a year less than their male counterparts. The women’s claims, due to be filed this month at a central London employment tribunal, mark the start of a union campaign over equal pay at the owner of Britain’s rail infrastructure.
UBM shareholders revolt against pay at the top, The Independent
15 May 2012
The media group UBM has become the latest company to suffer a major revolt
over pay as almost 48 per cent of shareholders refused to back its remuneration
report.
At least two leading shareholder advisory groups, ISS and Ivis, recommended
investors vote against the report. The extent of the rebellion still came as a
surprise.
FSA Fines Habib Bank And Its Former AML Officer, WSJ
15 May 2012
The Financial Services Authority, the U.K.’s financial regulator, fined a
private Swiss bank and its former money-laundering officer for failure to
maintain adequate controls to prevent money laundering. Habib Bank AG Zurich, which has 12 branches in the U.K., was ordered to pay a
fine of GBP525,000 for failings that lasted almost three years and "exposed the
firm to an unacceptable risk of laundering money,” the FSA said in a statement.
Facebook and Twitter Postings Cost CFO His Job, WSJ
14 May 2012
To his Facebook friends and Twitter followers, Gene Morphis was like the rest
of the world, using social media to vent about day-to-day frustrations of his
job. But Mr. Morphis wasn't like most employees. He happened to be an officer of a
public company. On Monday, his musings cost him his job.
Worthington director given accounts ban, The FT
14 May 2012
A former finance director of Worthington Nicholls has been excluded from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales for six years after producing "materially false and misleading” financial statements. The ban is the second-longest achieved by the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board.
'Shareholder spring' revolt over fat cat pay poised to gather pace, The Independent
14 May 2012
Anger over boardroom pay will explode again this week as further investor
rebellions demonstrate the "shareholder spring" of unrest continues
unabated. Cookson, the FTSE 250 engineering group, and online gaming firm 888 are in
the immediate line of fire. Both companies are braced for chunky votes against
their pay policies when they stage annual meetings on Wednesday and Thursday
respectively.
NZ: Capital + Merchant trio deny multi-million dollar theft, National Business Review
14 May 2012
A fraud trial of three Capital + Merchant Finance directors has started in Auckland High Court. Wayne Leslie Douglas, Neal Medhurst Nicholls and Owen Francis Tallentire are facing three charges of theft under the Crimes Act, relating to $28 million worth of loans advanced by the financier between 2005 and 2006. Messrs Nicholls and Tallentire also face a fourth charge, related to separate transactions referred to as the "Numeria" and "Clyde" transactions.
NZ: Client had 'blind trust' in accountants, fraud trial told, National Business Review
14 May 2012
A Napier businessman remembers making "big payments” after being invoced by his accountant, but "can’t recall why”, Wellington High Court has heard. Edward Roberts, a contractor who worked for the Whirinaki mill and also owns a scrap metal business, is one of 48 witnesses giving evidence in the fraud trial of Wellington accountants David Ingram Rowley and Barrie James Skinner.
Free ticket to event of a lifetime or dangerous leap in the dark?, The Times
14 May 2012
Executives are refusing corporate hospitality invitations to the
Olympic Games because of fears they could break new anti-bribery rules, The Times has learnt. Multinational
corporations that have spent thousands of pounds buying lavish packages
in the hope of entertaining clients are still searching for willing
guests. One FTSE 100-listed company has decided to give away its
tickets — which include four-course meals and fine wines, as well as
admittance to the best Olympic events — to its staff, instead. Another, a
contractor, is being shunned because prospective guests fear that they
would be vulnerable to accusations of bribery in the event of a
subsequent business deal.
JP Morgan boss to face shareholders over $2bn 'tempest in a teapot', The Guardian
14 May 2012
The embattled boss of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, faces shareholders at the bank's annual general meeting on Tuesday amid a backlash against its campaign to dilute plans for the tighter regulation of Wall Street. Pension funds have called for the positions of chairman and chief executive, which are both held by Dimon, to be split, in the aftermath of a $2bn trading loss announced by the bank last week.
JP Morgan 'dead wrong' to dismiss concerns over trading, admits boss, The Guardian
13 May 2012
The chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, has said he was "dead wrong" to dismiss concerns about the US bank's trading a month before posting a $2bn loss. The loss has led to calls for greater oversight of Wall Street, triggered regulatory investigations on both sides of the Atlantic and wiped $14bn (£8.7bn) off the bank's value. Stories began circulating in April that a London-based JP Morgan trader in London – nicknamed "the London whale" or "Voldemort" – had taken huge bets in the credit derivatives market. Dimon initially dismissed concerns as a "tempest in a teapot", but last week the bank shocked investors when it reported $2bn losses.
Yahoo chief Scott Thompson quits amid claims of fake qualification, The Guardian
13 May 2012
Yahoo's chief executive Scott Thompson quit on Sunday as the struggling web giant sought to defuse a row over an allegedly fake computer science degree on his CV. After a board meeting on Sunday morning, the company announced that Thompson, who has led the internet services firm for less than six months, would be replaced by Ross Levinsohn with immediate effect.
Untramelled executive pay spreads disruption, The FT
13 May 2012
The remarkable shareholder uprising over executive pay, in the UK and elsewhere, might seem welcome and overdue. In a sense, so it is. But in another sense it is misdirected. According to the irritating cliché favoured by politicians, the target is "rewards for failure”. The real issue is different and much wider: the persistent rise in rewards for doing the same.
Noble Execs Challenge SEC On Nigeria Bribery Claim’s ‘Plausibility’, WSJ
11 May 2012
Two executives of Noble Corp. charged with helping bribe Nigerian officials
challenged the plausibility of the claims underpinning the allegations. In court documents filed earlier this week, former Noble chief executive Mark
A. Jackson and James J. Ruehlen, the current director of Noble’s subsidiary in
Nigeria, say a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against them
should be dismissed because "it fails to state a claim that is plausible on its
face.”
Probe may delay Facebook Instagram deal, The FT
11 May 2012
A competition probe into
Facebook’s $1bn acquisition of photo-sharing service Instagram threatens to
postpone the closure of the deal beyond the second quarter, the target set by
the company in its initial public offering documents.The Federal Trade Commission has launched the investigation, according to two
people familiar with the matter, and has already begun collecting information
from at least one of the social network’s largest competitors.
Growing 'Shareholder Spring' arrives at Pendragon, The Telegraph
11 May 2012
Pendragon, Britain's biggest car dealer has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown on executive pay after it suffered the biggest revolt for any FTSE company in this year's growing "Shareholder Spring'.
NZ: ACC fraudster guilty in Nelson property fraud, National Business Review
11 May 2012
A second player in an ACC property fraud has pleaded guilty. Gregory Alexander Hutt (54) today admitted in the Wellington High Court to a Crimes Act bribery charge brought by the Serious Fraud Office. He was a co-offender with Malcolm David Mason (51), who was sentenced last year to 11 months' home detention and ordered to pay the courts $160,000 he had corruptly received.
Drug groups accused of collusion with medicines regulator, The Times
11 May 2012
Some of the world’s biggest drugmakers have been accused of putting lives at risk by colluding with India’s medicines regulator to win approval for drugs without expensive human safety trials. The accusation, which includes GlaxoSmithKline and its pulmonary hypertension drug Volibris (produced generically as ambrisentan), was contained in a report this week from India’s parliamentary committee on health.
NZ: International yachting companies taken for ride by fudging accountant, National Business Review
10 May 2012
An Auckland-based accountancy firm spent $150,000 in damage control after a senior accountant fudged the numbers on international client tax returns. Shelley Williams was the fourth accountant to be struck off the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountant’s register this week.
Cross-border fines for fund manager, The FT
10 May 2012
Martin Currie, an Edinburgh investment manager, has been fined a total of $14m for "fraudulently” using one of its US-listed funds to rescue a struggling hedge fund run by the same manager during the financial crisis, US and UK enforcers said. The action is one of the largest enforcement cases to be brought simultaneously by UK and US authorities. The UK part of the fine, £3.5m, is the largest ever imposed by the Financial Services Authority for conflict of interest violations.
Trinity Mirror investors rebel over pay, The FT
10 May 2012
Investors underlined their dissatisfaction with the pay culture at Trinity Mirror on Thursday as 45 per cent voted against its 2012 executive pay plan in the latest example of shareholders taking action against perceived corporate excess. Sly Bailey, the chief executive who resigned last week, saw 14.5 per cent of votes cast against her re-election for the time she remains and 17 per cent voted against Jane Lighting, the chair of the remuneration committee.
Bankers win High Court battle for £42m in bonuses, The Independent
10 May 2012
More than 100 London bankers have won their claim for £42m in unpaid bonuses
against Germany's Commerzbank in the High Court. At least five are set to collect payouts in excess of £1m for bonuses
promised just before the financial crisis. The 104 investment banking staff claimed their former employer, Dresdner
Kleinwort, now owned by Commerzbank, should pay the bonuses which were
guaranteed in August 2008.
Magna founder to face shareholder revolt, The FT
09 May 2012
Magna faces a shareholder revolt at its annual meeting on Thursday after the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, one of Canada’s largest and most closely watched funds, said it would oppose the re-election to the board of Frank Stronach, the car part manufacturer’s founder. The pension fund has been battling the company since Magna paid Mr Stronach around $900m in 2010 to cede control of the company. The fund said that it would also oppose the re-election of all directors who were on the board at the time of the transaction.
Shareholders reject Knight pay policies, The FT
09 May 2012
Knight Capital, the US trading group, has seen shareholders reject its executive pay policies, the latest in a string of challenges by investors. Nearly three-quarters of voting shareholders at Knight, the New Jersey-based trading and market making firm, failed to support the group’s "say on pay” resolution in a non-binding, advisory vote.
NZ: Cancer-stricken worker gets $33k
09 May 2012
A Waikato office manager has been awarded more than $30,000 in damages after
it was found she was unfairly dismissed following an extended leave of absence
while she battled cancer. Former Te Awamutu Residential Trust employee Selena Horne was awarded just
over $33,000 by the Employment Relations Authority after it was found her
redundancy was neither "fair and just" nor "genuine".
Scottish beer company BrewDog forces Diageo to apologise over 'dirty tricks' at awards, The Telegraph
09 May 2012
A small Scottish beer company that employs just 85 people has shamed Diageo into a public apology after exposing the global drinks giant for using "dirty tricks" to manipulate the results of an awards ceremony.
Yahoo to check credentials of own chief, The FT
09 May 2012
Yahoo set up a special committee to review the academic credentials of its chief executive and how he came to be appointed, as the head of the vetting process announced her resignation. The moves on Tuesday followed the discovery by the hedge fund Third Point, an activist investor preparing a proxy battle with the Yahoo board, that Scott Thompson did not have the computer science degree he claimed in his résumé.
'Shareholder spring' spreads to Aviva and William Hill, The Guardian
08 May 2012
Anger over executive pay has escalated, claiming the scalp of the boss of Britain's biggest insurance company, Aviva, and inspiring a shareholder revolt at the bookmaker William Hill. In what is seen as the latest manifestation of a "shareholder spring" – named after the Middle East uprisings last year – Andrew Moss, chief executive of Aviva, resigned with a £1.7m payoff. He finally quit after investors voted down the insurer's pay policies five days ago in protest at his pay and performance.
FSA fines Mitsui £3.35m and bans former European chairman Yohichi Kumagai, The Telegraph
08 May 2012
The City regulator has bared its teeth again, this time fining Japanese insurer Mitsui Sumitomo £3.35m and banning its former European chairman from working in the UK financial services industry.
Big business pays more than 30 days late, The Telegraph
08 May 2012
Businesses with more than 500 staff settled their bills an average of 31.5 days later than their agreed terms in the first three months of 2012, according to credit agency Experian.
NZ: SkyCity exec quits after court
08 May 2012
Casino and hotel operator SkyCity has confirmed its departing chief operating
officer Stuart Wing was before the courts on a drink driving charge. The company announced Wing's sudden departure yesterday, saying only that he
and his family had decided to return to Australia for personal reasons.
NZ: WINZ dismissal after threats 'justified'
08 May 2012
A Work and Income New Zealand service centre manager was fired from her job
after she was involved in a fight with a client at a restaurant and then
threatened the client over the phone, causing her to flee her home. Jane Drader, the WINZ Kerikeri manager, appealed to the Employment Relations
Authority about her dismissal but the appeal was dismissed. The finding from the authority reveals that the incident began on February 3,
2011 when the client came into WINZ without an appointment. She wanted to speak
to a staff member about concerns she had with child care payments.
NZ: Forex trader charged with $1.7m fraud, National Business Review
08 May 2012
Currency trader Christopher John Collecutt (57) has been charged by the Serious Fraud Office for fraud totalling $1.7 million. Mr Collecutt operated under the name CFX Trading. He is charged under the Crimes Act for theft by a person in a special relationship, obtaining or causing loss by deception and making a false statement as a promoter.
Abbott agrees $1.6bn Depakote settlement, The FT
08 May 2012
Deal marks end of four-year
investigation into the selling of the bipolar disorder drug, which was
allegedly marketed for unapproved uses.
Andrew Moss steps down as Aviva chief, The Telegraph
08 May 2012
Andrew Moss, the Aviva chief executive who last week faced calls to quit by shareholders angry at the insurer's performance and his pay, has given up his role with immediate effect and is to leave the company.
Deutsche Telekom faces antitrust complaint, The FT
08 May 2012
The European Commission on Tuesday accused Deutsche Telekom of breaking antitrust laws in Slovakia, where its Slovak Telekom subsidiary is believed to have abused its market position to thwart rival broadband providers. Slovak Telekom, which is 51 per cent owned by Deutsche Telekom, may have refused to supply access to its telecoms network to competitors and may have charged competitors unfairly high wholesale prices, making it difficult for them to make a profit, the commission said.
Mining firms face scrutiny over Congo deals, The Guardian
08 May 2012
MPs are set to launch an investigation into the involvement of British-connected shell companies and London-listed mining groups in opaque deals to acquire prime mining assets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of the poorest countries on Earth. News of the potential inquiry, which could involve top FTSE 100 mining executives being called to give evidence, comes as campaigners argue that natural resources deals are benefiting multinationals rather than the DRC's population. Commodity trader Glencore will also face calls to explain its involvement in the resource-rich central African country.
Purported Sempra Whistleblower Blasts SEC’s “Outsourcing Program”, WSJ
08 May 2012
A purported whistleblower is asking a federal court to compel federal
authorities to turn over documents about a corruption investigation into his
former employer, Sempra Global, as well as documents about the company’s
internal investigation. The request, filed last month in U.S. District Court in San Diego, also takes
shots at a widespread government practice of farming out investigations to large
law firms hired by the company under scrutiny. Rodolofo Michelon, the purported
whistleblower, labelled the practice the "Outsoucing Program” in court filings
and claimed that internal documents at the Securities and Exchange Commission
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation would show how the practice allowed
Sempra to get off the hook.
Former Hospital Exec Sentenced For Bribing New York Lawmakers, WSJ
08 May 2012
David Rosen, the former head of MediSys, a high-profile New York City
medical-care company, was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for bribing
New York lawmakers. Rosen, who was convicted in September 2011, bribed three state lawmakers —
two assemblymen and a state senator — with hundreds of thousands of dollars from
his medical-care empire in exchange for what prosecutors say was help in winning
state contracts, as well as other perks from Albany. He was convicted after a three-week bench trial, which was conducted before a
judge at Rosen’s request.
NZ: SFO charges money trader
07 May 2012
The Serious Fraud Office has laid charges against a foreign exchange trader who
allegedly lost almost $1.5 million of investors' money - including from his own
family and friends.
Britain to bolster investors’ say on pay, The FT
07 May 2012
Vince Cable, business
secretary, is to announce plans for executive pay curbs in a wide-ranging
Enterprise Bill.
JPMorgan Chase Whistleblower: 'Essentially Suicide' To Stand Up To Bank, The Huffington Post
07 May 2012
When Linda Almonte alerted her boss at JPMorgan Chase about potential fraud in a major deal she was helping to close, she expected him to applaud her great catch. Instead, he fired her. "We went down fast," said Almonte, 41, about her family. She had been making $100,000 a year as a division vice president at Chase, enough to support her stay-at-home husband, their four kids, ages 12 to 22, and rent a three-bedroom house in San Antonio, Texas.
Facebook in £8bn tax dodge, The Sunday Times
06 May 2012
FACEBOOK is set to avoid up to $14 billion (£8.6 billion) in tax after its
imminent float on Nasdaq.
The social network will generate a giant tax credit when Mark Zuckerberg, the
founder, staff and early backers cash in hundreds of millions of stock
options.
Pay row hits William Hill and WPP, The Sunday Times
06 May 2012
INVESTORS are set to turn their guns on Britain’s biggest bookie, the maker of
Marmite and the agency behind Argentina’s controversial Falklands
advertisement as the revolt over "fat cat” pay gathers strength.
William Hill, ‘Unilever and WPP are braced for rebellions over lavish
boardroom rewards at their annual meetings over the coming weeks.
Lloyds owns stake in US firm accused over CIA torture flights, The Guardian
06 May 2012
Lloyds Banking Group has become embroiled in a row over its investment in a company accused of involvement in the rendition of terror suspects on behalf of the CIA. Lloyds, which is just under 40% owned by the taxpayer, is one of a number of leading City institutions under fire for investing in US giant Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), which is accused of helping to organise covert US government flights of terror suspects to Guantánamo Bay and other clandestine "black sites" around the world.
Executives hit back at 'rewards for failure' claims, The Telegraph
06 May 2012
The growing revolt over executive pay is threatening to engulf a string of major companies over the coming weeks, including William Hill, Standard Chartered, Unilever and WPP. William Hill, Britain's biggest bookmaker, will on Tuesday become the latest target when investors will object to a £1.2m "retention bonus" for its chief executive Ralph Topping.
Hedge Fund Intensifies Attack on Yahoo Amid Storm Over Padded Résumés, The New York Times
04 May 2012
Third Point has intensified its assault against Yahoo. On Friday, the hedge fund, which is in the middle of a contentious proxy battle with Yahoo, called for the dismissal of the technology company’s chief executive, Scott Thompson, after revealing that he had inaccurately stated his credentials. Mr. Thompson had previously claimed to have earned degrees in both accounting and computer science from Stonehill College. After prodding by Third Point, Yahoo conceded that Mr. Thompson had only an accounting degree, calling it an "inadvertent error.”
Walter Kwok arrested in Hong Kong, The FT
04 May 2012
Sun Hung Kai Properties,
Hong Kong’s largest property developer, said on Friday that its former chairman
Walter Kwok had been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation the company
by the city’s anti-corruption agency.
It follows the arrests on March 29 of his two younger brothers. Raymond and
Thomas, who are joint chairmen of the group. Like his brothers, Mr Kwok has
been released on bail.
US raises criminal stakes in Mizuho probe, The FT
04 May 2012
US prosecutors are raising
the possibility of criminal liability tied to the financial crisis as they
investigate a $1.6bn mortgage-linked security sold by a unit of Mizuho
Financial Group, the Japanese bank.
People familiar with the matter say the US attorney’s office in Manhattan and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation are leading the criminal investigation into
the sale of the security known as Delphinus CDO 2007-1.
GSK appoints women directors in board shake-up, The Times
04 May 2012
A Chinese banker and an American oil executive are to join the board of GlaxoSmithKline in appointments that will give the group more women in its boardroom than any other blue-chip company. The board shake-up came after James Murdoch officially stepped down yesterday as a non-executive, having quit several corporate jobs in the wake of News International’s phone-hacking scandal.
SEC probes Chesapeake and its chief, The FT
04 May 2012
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the US regulator, has begun an informal inquiry into Chesapeake Energy, the second-largest US gas producer, and Aubrey McClendon, its chief executive. Chesapeake said the SEC had asked the company and Mr McClendon to retain "certain documents”.
The David Brent effect – managers think they are better than they are, The Telegraph
03 May 2012
According to an official survey, most have an inflated opinion of their own ability and have no idea how bad they are at handling their workers. Many overestimate their own leadership skills thinking more than three quarters of staff are satisfied when barely half are happy, it claims. Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) revealed a "reality gap" in the capabilities of the country's eight million managers.
NZ: Eight years' jail for director's $23m fraud
03 May 2012
Gavin Clifford Bennett has gone to jail for eight years for defrauding $23
million from South Canterbury Finance and using some of it for a free-spending,
grandiose life-style. Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish imposed the jail sentence today
on six representative charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office listing 894
separate transactions when 54-year-old Bennett was a director of Datasouth. As well as the six fraud charges, Bennett has admitted two charges of false
accounting.
NZ: Hardie directors breached duties: High Court
03 May 2012
The Australian High Court has held that seven James Hardie Industries
directors breached their duties by approving the company's release of a
misleading statement relating to compensation for asbestos victims. It also held that company secretary and general counsel Peter James Saffron
failed to discharge his duties with care and diligence, in relation to the
actuarial work that underpinned the statement in which James Hardie said a
compensation fund for victims was "fully funded".
Aviva rocked by shareholder rebellion over executive pay, The Guardian
03 May 2012
Five major companies endured shareholder revolts over pay on Thursday – including insurer Aviva, which had its remuneration report voted down – in the latest sign that investors are taking a tough stance over underperforming companies. Aviva's chief executive, Andrew Moss, faced repeated calls to step down after 54% of shareholders voted against its remuneration policies, making the insurer only the fourth FTSE 100 company – after Royal Bank of Scotland, Shell and GlaxoSmithKline – to have its pay rejected in the 10 years since a vote was introduced. A hoarse-sounding Moss suffered a 10% vote against his re-election as a director, and several private shareholders bluntly called for him to go along with the outgoing chairman, Colin Sharman.
Ikea faces allegations that it used Cuban prisoners to make its products, The Guardian
03 May 2012
Ikea is facing allegations that it used Cuban prisoners to make its products in the 1980s. The claims follow allegations this week that East German political prisoners were forced to make furniture for the Swedish retailer from the 1970s. According to a report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a deal to make Ikea furniture in Cuban prisons was hatched using East German trading connections.
Inmarsat shareholders in pay protest, The FT
03 May 2012
Inmarsat came under fire from its shareholders on Thursday as more than 40 per cent of the votes at its annual meeting failed to back the company’s remuneration report. Investors were protesting at plans to pay Andrew Sukawaty, the executive chairman, the same amount of money as last year, even though he has since handed over the running of the company to a new chief executive. A provider of satellite telephone and internet services for ships and the military, Inmarsat said Mr Sukawaty’s pay had remained at the same level – £2.66m in salary and bonuses – because he was still taking an active role within the company to ensure a smooth handover to Rupert Pearce, who took over as chief executive in January.
UBS Investors Protest 2011 Compensation, Management Actions, Bloomberg
03 May 2012
UBS AG (UBSN) shareholders protested against compensation and management actions after Switzerland’s biggest bank suffered a $2.3 billion loss from unauthorized trading. Almost 37 percent of shareholders voted against the bank’s compensation report for 2011 at the annual meeting in Zurich today. More than 39 percent opposed discharging members of the executive board and board of directors of responsibility for their actions in 2011, while 8 percent abstained.
Renewed probe into Apple 4G marketing, The FT
02 May 2012
UK regulator says the
technology company failed to comply fully with requests to amend claims about
the new iPad’s wireless capabilities.
NZ: Taxi firm fired for 'short skirt firing'
02 May 2012
A Christchurch woman has been awarded $20,000 after her firm planned to
replace her with a "younger woman in a short skirt". Maree Humphries was made redundant from her job as a marketing manager at
Blue Star Taxis last year amid miscommunication and rumours, after her employer
first told her she should look for a new job and then later told her the job was
safe. According to an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) decision released today,
Humphries' boss Bob Wilkinson, told her early last year she had to look for a
new job and she should leave as soon as possible.
NZ: The heat goes on Pyne Gould Corporation, National Business Review
02 May 2012
Pyne Gould Corporation has moved to full damage control mode as speculation swirls as to why its auditor quit suddenly yesterday. PGC, which is 77% owned by a limited partnership between director George Kerr and US hedge fund Baker Street Capital, said yesterday that its auditor, KPMG, had resigned. The reason given was "unresolved differences as to whether certain transactions should be disclosed as related party transactions, and concerns over the adequacy of governance and management of financial reporting.”
Rover workers get £3 redundancy pay compensation after seven-year battle, The Guardian
02 May 2012
Former MG Rover workers are to be rewarded with compensation of just £3 each following a seven-year battle for redundancy payments in the wake of the collapse of Britain's last major carmaker. News of the tiny payouts was announced to campaigners at a meeting on Monday and has led to calls for personal donations to the workers' compensation fund from the so-called "Phoenix Four" – John Towers, Nick Stephenson, John Edwards and Peter Beale – the businessmen who bought the company for £10 in 2000 and then paid themselves and managing director Kevin Howe a total of £42m.
Western Union Targeted In Money-Laundering Probe, WSJ
02 May 2012
Western Union Co. disclosed Tuesday that it was a target in a federal
investigation into alleged money laundering.The Englewood, Colo.-based money transmitter said in a securities filing that it was served
with a subpoena on March 20 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central
District of California seeking documents relating to Shen Zhou International, a
former agent based in Monterey Park, Calif.
Rupert Murdoch's Fox broadcast licences targeted by US ethics group, The Guardian
01 May 2012
A Washington-based ethics watchdog is calling on federal regulators to revoke News Corporation's 27 Fox broadcast licences in the wake of the highly critical report on phone hacking from the UK parliament. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) has written to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, calling on the regulator to pull the plug on Rupert Murdoch's lucrative television licences on grounds of character. The letter argues that the final report of the UK Commons culture, media and sport committee, which concluded that Murdoch was not fit to run a major international company, had implications for the US regulators that they had now to act upon.
UBS shareholders set to rebel over pay, The FT
01 May 2012
A significant number of
investors are preparing to confront the management of UBS on Thursday by voting
against the Swiss bank’s 2011 pay award and denying executives formal approval
of their actions.
Sainsbury's potato buyer admits corruption, The Telegraph
01 May 2012
John Maylam, 44, was lavished with "excessive gifts and hospitality" by directors of Greenvale, which supplies almost half of the supermarket giant’s potatoes, a court has heard. He ran up a £200,000 bill at Claridge's Hotel in London, enjoyed a luxury £350,000 twelve-day holiday to the Monaco Grand Prix and received cash payments totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds stuffed inside brown envelopes. Greenvale, one of the country’s leading producers, funded the extravagant gifts by overcharging Sainsbury’s for its potatoes in a £40 million deal sanctioned by Maylam.
Lloyds boss hits out at fraudsters as claims for PPI climb, The Independent
01 May 2012
Lloyds Banking Group said yesterday that one in four of the payment
protection insurance (PPI) claims made against it were fraudulent. A quarter of the claims "are on behalf of customers who do not even have a
PPI policy with us", its chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said as he
revealed that the bank had set aside a further £375m to deal with the
mis-selling scandal. That takes the total for Lloyds above £3.5bn.
UBS to Pay $27 Million Over SEC Mutual Fund Disclosure Claims, Bloomberg
01 May 2012
UBS AG (UBSN) will pay $26.6 million to resolve U.S. regulatory claims its Puerto Rico-based brokerage unit sold shares in mutual funds without disclosing that it was propping up the price of the funds in the secondary market. UBS Financial Services Inc. of Puerto Rico, starting in 2008, solicited thousands of retail investors, saying a competitive and liquid secondary market contributed to their closed-end mutual funds’ performance, the Securities and Exchange Commission said today in an administrative order that also named two of the firm’s executives.
WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrell handed £13m compensation package, The Telegraph
01 May 2012
Sir Martin Sorrell, head of the world’s biggest advertising group WPP, is risking a shareholder revolt after he received a compensation package worth almost £13m last year
Murdoch ‘unfit’ to run global company, The FT
01 May 2012
Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise stewardship of a major international company after failing to investigate phone hacking at the News of the World and overseeing a culture of "wilful blindness”, a committee of MPs said on Tuesday. The findings of the culture, media and sport committee could endanger News Corp’s continued ownership of British Sky Broadcasting, media commentators said.
The Wal-Mart mess: Everybody does it (and we don’t mean bribery), Reuters
01 May 2012
"Ignore him, he’s a whack job.”
"She’s just bitter she didn’t get promoted.”
"He’s been shooting his mouth off for years – and it’s always nothing.”
Those lines sound familiar? If you work in business, they probably do – it’s
how people talk about whistleblowers. Shocking? It’s just the truth. Even though
whistleblowers may have a noble reputation in the media, gracing magazine covers
and prime-time TV spots, when they surface within a company, management almost
always brushes them off with a discrediting back story or a little piece of
history that explains away all their annoying accusations. And here’s why that
happens: In the vast majority of cases, whistleblowers are, to some degree,
crazy or vengeful or both.
|
