By Rob Hotakainen in Washington, D.C.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina today sought to distance herself from a government investigation into whether the company's executives paid millions of dollars in bribes to win a contract in Russia, saying she was unaware of the alleged crimes and that she has not been contacted as part of the probe.
"Carly has no knowledge of these alleged actions," said her spokeswoman, Amy Thoma. "When she served as the CEO of HP if she had been aware of any illegal or inappropriate behavior by any employee she would have taken action immediately to terminate the parties involved."
The Wall Street Journal reported today that the U.S. government has joined German and Russian authorities in an investigation of the alleged bribes. The newspaper said the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether HP committed any civil violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as part of a widening probe into the company's activities.
According to the Journal, German prosecutors are looking into the possibility that HP executives paid about $11 million to win a contract of more than $35 million under which HP sold computer gear, through a German subsidiary, to the office of the prosecutor general of the Russian Federation.
Fiorina is one of three Republicans vying for the party's Senate nomination, hoping to unseat Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in November.
One of those rivals, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, was quick to note that the alleged crimes took place during Fiorina's tenure.
"When confronted with this news, Fiorina will do what she always does: deny knowledge despite having been a famously micromanaging and bottom-line-oriented CEO," DeVore said. "Now that she aspires to constitutional high office, she owes Californians -- and herself -- something more. It's the one thing we have yet to see when she addresses her rocky and increasingly questionable corporate past: honesty."
But the Fiorina campaign pointed to a statement from a company spokesman saying the former HP executive would have likely been unaware of any of the alleged illegal activities.
"To suggest that Carly Fiorina, or any other senior executive in Palo Alto then or now, was knowledgeable of these alleged activities is wrong and not supported by the facts... The
facts have clearly demonstrated that the criminal investigation is focused on alleged activities that took place seven years ago in Germany and Russia by regional employees," HP spokesman David Shane told Bloomberg News.
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