Technical Staff
March 30, 2022
According to the following report, a whistleblower informed the US authorities about allegations of bribes and kickbacks paid by Microsoft in the Middle East and Africa. If these allegations are true, it would be a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act of 1977.
The report’s details are troubling due to the following two, among many other, issues:
1. Yasser Elabd, a former Microsoft Senior Director, traveled to Washington, D.C. in June 2019 to meet with members of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Attorney General’s office to discuss his allegations that Microsoft was ignoring bribery at Middle Eastern and African subsidiaries.
2. The case agent in charge of Elabd’s whistleblower report informed his lawyer in early March 2022 that the SEC was closing the case due to a lack of resources to conduct interviews and locate material abroad during the coronavirus epidemic.
As a result, Yasser Elabd decided to make his story public. He published an article in Lioness to detail all the above.
We stand by the Ten Principles of Fighting Corruption promulgated by The American Anti-Corruption Institute (AACI). We do not accept the US authority’s feedback as stated above. Unless the US authorities take all the necessary effective measures to investigate such allegations, the damages would be irreparable and whistleblowers will be exposed!
