Yasser Elabd, former director for emerging markets at Microsoft, published a testimonial on the platform on March 25 Lioness, specializing in the dissemination of whistleblowers, to denounce the corruption in which his former company would engage. The next day Microsoft claimed to have already investigated the accusations of their ex-employee.
Microsoft allegedly pushed Yasser Elabd out
Joined Microsoft in 1998, events began to go wrong for Yasser Elabd in 2016. That year he explains that he reported a payment of 40,000 dollars in Africa. The transaction is canceled, but he is summoned by one of his managers. The latter would have made remarks that were equivocal to say the least, “ I don’t want you to be a blocker. If one of the subsidiaries in the Middle East or Africa does something, you have to turn your head and leave it as it is. If something happens, they will pay the price, not you. “.
Kaspersky, China Mobile and China Telecom are security threats to the FCC
Subsequently, Yasser Elabd claims to have been sidelined from certain markets. He reported by email certain actions of his management directly to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, without success. In 2018, the company imposed a performance improvement plan on him, which he rejects. He was fired in August of the same year.
Yasser Elabd believes he was pushed out for denouncing a widespread practice of bribes in Africa and the Middle East. Near The Verge, he estimates that 200 million dollars were used for corruption, the majority in Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. The World Economic Forum has estimated that $1 trillion goes missing in bribes every year around the world.
Widespread corruption
After his dismissal Yasser Elabd said he continued to chronicle cases of corruption within the company, in particular via former colleagues and internal audits. Multiple requests for funds for suspected investment in Africa, $13 million handed over to a Saudi interior ministry subcontractor that never reached its destination, $9.5 million a year paid by Qatar’s education ministry for Office and Windows licenses never installed since the computers did not exist…
This money was either used to ensure local markets, by rewarding leaders, or fictitious agreements to get rich on public funds. Contractors, local politicians and even Microsoft employees would have profited from this largesse. Yasser Elabd judges that half of the salesmen and managers participated in shady deals in the regions where he worked.
If some were indeed fired by Microsoft and payments were blocked, the leaders of the company would have knowingly turned a blind eye to the generalization of these practices, accuses Yasser Elabd. He was outraged that ” All leaders are aware of this, and they promote the wrong people. If you do the right thing they won’t promote you “.
The SEC closed the case stemming from the revelations of Yasser Elabd
Yasser Elabd unpacked these cases at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June 2019. In the United States the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits American companies or citizens from having the right to bribe foreign governments. The SEC informed the former employee that the case would be closed in early March 2022, for lack of means to investigate. The SEC favors recurring cases of corruption where companies knowingly ignore the alerts sent to it. A decision which motivated the publication of the cases of which he was aware.
Becky Lenaburg, Microsoft vice president and deputy general counsel for compliance and ethics, responded to the accusations the day after the testimony was released, Saturday, March 26. She wrote to american media that Microsoft undertakes to do business responsibly and we always encourage people to report anything they see that may violate the law, our policies or our ethical standards “.
The executive also says, We believe we have already investigated and responded to these allegations, which date back several years. We have cooperated with government agencies to resolve any concerns “. It turns out, in fact, that Microsoft has already been pinned by the SEC and the US Department of Justice for corruption cases.
In 2019, the company paid $25 million to US authorities in two separate cases. Brad Smith, president of the company had, at the time, denounced in a letter to the employee a behavior ” unacceptable “. He had announced that measures would be taken to report bad practices more effectively. There may still be some work to do.