Read the article below and make a reaction based on the lessons learned.
Read the article below and make a reaction based on the lessons learned.
Recent corporate scandals have heightened firm sensitivity to potential
ethical breaches among senior executives. Through developing and communicating
whistleblower policies, firms often hope to surface potential ethical lapses to
quickly exhibit those involved. However, Renault recently learned that not
every allegation is true, and that often it is better to presume innocence
until guilt has been proven. In August of 2010 anonymous letter was sent to a
number of senior managers alleging that three leaders of Renaults Electric Vehicle
Program had negotiated a bribe. An internal investigation revealed that the
three men held accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and it was believed
that these accounts were used to funnel bribes to them. Thus, the executives
were fired in January 2011 with CEO Carlos Ghosn suggesting that the company
had evidence that these individuals were passing along the confidential
business information to competitors.
However, state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin found that the three executives did not have
accounts in these countries and suggested that some organized effort had been
made to defraud Renault. He stated, “at this stage we do not know whether this is just fraud or a deliberate attempt to destabilize Renault”. If there was any suspicious espionage it was not done through the networks identified by
Renault.
CEO Ghosn apologized to the three fired executives in a televised press conference
and offered to meet with them to invite them to rejoin the company. He also
noted that Renault would offer them compensation taking into account the serious
hurt that they and in their families suffered.
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