Monday, May 28, 2007

Pfizer India CFO exit... something fishy?

Came across this article in the Economic Times today... about unscrupulous activities forming the base for Pfizer India CFO's (Chief Financial Officer, for the uninitiated) exit from India.
In the article, Dr. Peter Rost has quoted a former Pfizer India employee, Ashok S. Idnani, an ex-deputy manager at Pfizer’s finance division in Mumbai who alleged that Pfizer sold its Hyderabad manufacturing plant in 2004 at a price much lower than the market price, bribed government officials in violation of the MNC’s world-wide policies, and hired a detective agency to spy on unfriendly shareholders. His post also accuses some unnamed Pfizer India officials of being involved in money laundering. Pfizer, of course, denies the allegations.
Makes for quite interesting reading considering that Pfizer India has dismissed the allegations as baseless, and it's top brass in the US seems to be taking these allegations quite seriously.
Then again, the foreign media has claimed that the CFO's departure is just "Pfizer’s desire for a CFO with Wall Street experience" and another analyst claims Pfizer may now want a CFO who is less of a traditional accountant and more of a deal-maker.
Well... let's see what comes out of this all...

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