Dow Chairman and CEO Stavropoulos lied to shareholders when he said that Union Carbide face no criminal charges in India
As reported earlier this week by bhopal.net, Dow Chairman and CEO Stavropoulos lied to shareholders when he said that Union Carbide faced no criminal charges in India.
“Our chairman did misspeak,” sighs Dow doublespeak supremo John Musser. For “misspeak” read “put his foot so far down his throat that it came out the other end and doofed him up the arris”.
Sorry, Musserji, it’s more serious than that. “Pants on fire” used the misspeaking to obscure a crucial point, of great significance for Dow shareholders. He had been asked why Dow had accepted Carbide’s US asbestos liabilities and not its Indian Bhopal liabilities. He replied that the reason was because Carbide was being litigated against in the US whereas in India Carbide faced no on-going litigation.
Now that he knows different, Dow presumably can have no further problem in accepting Union Carbide’s Indian liabilities.
Dow shareholders will of course quickly reach the same conclusion, which is no doubt why “Pants on Fire” has not yet bothered to tell them that he “misspoke”.
Dow shareholders need to know that Union Carbide, whose asbestos liabilities have already cost them something like half a billion, is a criminal fugitive from justice in India, where Dow has substantial assets and is likely to be named soon as an accused in place of its absconding subsidiary. The potential liabilities arising out of what the London Independent called “Union Carbide’s rape of Bhopal” will make the asbestos money seem like a fleabite.
As one Dow employee earlier this week said (see story below) “Oh yes, Union Carbide: I still don’t understand why we bought them out, it was a big mistake. We have enough trouble with Agent Orange in our history. We do try to be a responsible company, but this sort of thing really doesn’t help.”
Guess which idiot masterminded the Dow takeover of Union Carbide. Guess who ignored the worried protests of Dow shareholders who even took out a lawsuit to stop him?
According to John Musser, “We are fully aware that Union Carbide and Anderson were both named in the criminal charges in India.” Well, John, you can’t have it both ways. Either Stavropoulous knew the facts, or he didn’t. He certainly should have known. If he aggressively pushed through the takeover in ignorance of Carbide’s criminal record, he deserves to be fired.
If he pushed through the deal in full knowledge, then he has deliberately lied to shareholders about a matter which could cost them their company. He deserves to be fired.
Join the global hunger strike for justice.
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