Page 25 - atoday

BUSINESS A25
Tuesday 27 October 2015

Scandal-hit Volkswagen hires Opel exec as strategy chief

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) voice to the company as ance at competitor Daim- Poetsch as board chair- The U.S. Environmental Pro-
— Volkswagen is hiring a it re-examines its culture in ler AG in the wake of a man in the wake of the tection Agency says Volk-
top strategy executive from the wake of the scandal. bribery scandal there. scandal led to questions swagen equipped 482,000
competitor Opel as it seeks The move announced Sedran is a former manag- about whether the compa- cars with software that dis-
to recover from a scandal Monday by the automaker ing director for turnaround ny needed more outsiders abled emissions controls
over its cheating on U.S. based in Wolfsburg, Ger- firm Alix Partners. He joined to get to the bottom of its when the cars were not be-
diesel emissions tests. many, comes on top of General Motors’ Opel divi- problems. New CEO Mat- ing tested. About 11 million
Taking on Thomas Sedran the company’s decision sion as head of strategy thias Mueller is also a long- of its cars worldwide have
as Volkswagen’s new to hire Christine Hohmann- and operations in 2012. time Volkswagen AG em- the software, though not
chief of corporate strat- Dennhardt, a former judge The appointment of chief ployee, replacing Martin all are confirmed to have
egy brings another outside who oversaw legal compli- financial officer Hans Dieter Winterkorn, who resigned. cheated on tests.q

Valeant board forms committee to look into Philidor ties

This photo shows the head office and logo of Valeant Pharmaceuticals in Montreal. Valeant Philidor to help deliver its profit if it does.
Pharmaceuticals announced Monday, Oct. 26, 2015, that it is forming a committee to delve into drugs more quickly to pa- Valeant said Monday that
the drug company’s relationship with the specialty pharmacy Philidor, which was the target of a tients through the mail. its full board and an audit
scathing research report a week earlier. The Journal, citing some and risk committee found
sources it did not name, its accounting treatment of
(Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP) said Valeant employees the Philidor relationship to
worked directly in Philidor be appropriate.
TOM MURPHY the report. Valeant CEO mittee will include activist offices and used the fake Pearson, who is also Vale-
AP Business Writer J. Michael Pearson com- investor Mason Morfit. Vale- names to guard against ant’s chairman, added
Valeant Pharmaceuticals pared the actions of the ant also announced Mon- the appearance that Vale- that the drug company
promises a thorough ex- report’s editor to someone day that Morfit was return- ant was using the pharma- has asked the Securities
amination of its dealings yelling fire in a crowded ing to its board after leav- cy to steer patients toward and Exchange Commission
with a pharmacy that was theater. ing more than a year ago. its drugs. to investigate Citron and its
targeted in a scathing re- A special board commit- “We take this matter seri- Philidor did not immedi- editor, the investor Andrew
search report last week, tee is being created to ex- ously and it is one of the is- ately return calls from The Left, saying that Left want-
though the company on amine issues that include a sues that will be reviewed Associated Press seeking ed to create a panic.
Monday stood by its finan- Wall Street Journal report by the (board) commit- comment. Valeant said it “He wanted people to
cial accounting of that re- that said Valeant employ- tee,” Valeant Chief Com- also will investigate why run,” Pearson said.
lationship. ees using fake names on pliance Officer Seana Car- Philidor was denied last Valeant disclosed last week
Valeant also said that it has emails were placed at the son said during a Monday year a permit to operate in during a conference call to
asked federal regulators to pharmacy, called Philidor, morning conference call. California. The state’s phar- discuss earnings that it had
investigate the short-selling as the smaller company The Canadian drug com- macy board cited, among purchased an option late
investment firm that put out was starting up. That com- pany uses pharmacies like other reasons, false state- last year to buy Philidor.
ments from its CEO, Mat- Citron also questioned why
thew S. Davenport, some in the drug company had not
reference to the true own- previously disclosed this
ership of the company. development. Valeant ex-
Valeant planned Mon- ecutives said Monday they
day’s conference call last didn’t consider it mate-
week after the research rial enough to be worthy of
firm Citron said that it ap- disclosing. They noted that
pears Valeant and Philidor the Philidor business repre-
have created a network sents less than 7 percent of
of phantom pharmacies to Valeant’s revenue.
trick auditors. Valeant has been targeted
Citron is a short seller’s re- for criticism in recent years
search firm that publishes for its focus on buying drug
reports in hopes of trigger- developers, hiking prices
ing a stock reaction. A short on the products it acquires
seller bets that the stock will and slashing spending on
fall and can make a huge research into new drugs.q

MTN Nigeria fined $5.2 billion for failing to register users

MICHELLE FAUL ers. ing all cellphone providers alent to at least two aver- had about 62 million cus-
Associated Press The Nigerian Communi- to de-activate unregistered age years’ profit for MTN tomers among Nigeria’s
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — MTN cations Commission con- cards within seven days “or Nigeria and nearly three 170 million people in Sep-
Group telecommunica- firmed the penalty based face severe sanctions.” All times the $1.8 billion that tember, by far the group’s
tion’s stock plunged 12.5 on 200,000 naira ($1,000) the other cellphone com- it has invested in the West biggest market.
percent on the Johan- for each of 5.1 million cell- panies in Nigeria complied, African country, according Nigeria has about 150 mil-
nesburg Stock Exchange phone SIM cards that had the commission said. to the company’s website. lion active mobile phone
Monday on the news that not been registered and The South African compa- Africa’s leading cellphone lines, 90 million mobile In-
its most lucrative subsidiary, should have been dis- ny said in a statement Mon- service provider, MTN paid ternet users and imports
in Nigeria, has been fined connected by an August day that it is in talks with Ni- $285 million for one of four 4 million cellphones each
$5.2 billion for failing to dis- deadline. geria’s regulatory body “to GSM licenses in Nigeria in month, according to Ni-
connect millions of unreg- On Aug. 7, the commission resolve the matter.” 2001. geria’s Federal Ministry of
istered cellphone subscrib- issued an ultimatum order- The $5.2 billion fine is equiv- Before the cut, MTN said it Communications. q