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Hewlett-Packard’s dreadful day at Congress
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Last week, Hewlett-Packard brass faced a congressional subcommittee to talk about the company’s boardroom-leak investigation and how it was unethical and illegal. Congressional members compared the spying debacle to the likes of Enron and Watergate, while questioning the company’s top current and former executives.
Subpoenas were issued by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer to ascertain as to how the phone records were obtained. When appearing in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, HP Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd clearly took the responsibility for the catastrophic investigation the company launched at the start of this year to find the source of the boardroom leaks.
“Eventually, the buck stops with me,” said Hurd. “In the end, I am responsible.”
Testifying first against the subcommittee, former Chairwoman of the Board of Directors Patricia Dunn appeared indifferent when questioned about the boardroom leak scandal and her involvement in it.
“I do not accept personal responsibility for what happened, but I am very sorry for what happened,” she said.
The spark that started the boardroom leak investigation, codenamed “Kona-II,” was a CNET news article describing a confidential HP Board of Directors meeting.
This angered Dunn at the time, who authorized a private investigation firm to discover who leaked the information. The job of finding the leaker fell on HP’s General Counsel Ann Baskins and Senior Counsel and Chief Ethics Officer Kevin Hunsaker. Also involved was HP’s Manager of Global Investigations Anthony Gentilucci. Dunn was closely involved with all three of them.
Anthony Gentilucci enlisted the help of long-time friend Ronald DeLia, who heads a private investigation firm.
The firm used pretexting, which is the practice of tricking phone companies into releasing phone records of victims by posing as them. This was by far the most controversial technique employed by HP.
In one question and answer session with committee members, Patricia Dunn responded to House subcommittee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas,
Barton:ˇ “If I called you up, Ms. Dunn, and said, ‘I’d like your phone records,’ would you give them to me?”
Dunn: “In your position, I would give you my phone records.”
Barton: “Well, praise the Lord, I wouldn’t give you mine.”
Dunn: “I hope that doesn’t mean you have something
to hide.”
After reviewing the phone records, George Keyworth II (HP director since 1986) was identified as the leaker and asked to resign.
Thomas Perkins, disapproving of the tactics employed by the company, resigned on the spot in anger.
In addition, he sent a letter to the HP board in which he disagreed with the company’s portrayal of his resignation as routine.
Harsh Mantri
