ROB ROSE: The shoddy treatment of whistleblower Rosemary Hunter
A company’s first reaction should be to probe alleged wrongdoing, not punish the person who has highlighted the problem
There ought to be some red faces at SA’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA), over its shoddy handling of whistleblowers — specifically its former head of pension funds, the lawyer Rosemary Hunter. This, at least, was the impression created by none other than Mervyn King, the former judge who has given his name to the various incarnations of SA’s corporate governance codes. Speaking on the sidelines of a conference for internal auditors, King described how the FSCA (which used to be known as the Financial Services Board) did exactly the opposite of what you’d want from any company facing claims from a whistleblower. "Rosemary’s case shows us how companies push whistleblowers out," he said. "Why shouldn’t the company have gone out of its way to say, let’s get to the bottom of this? Why shouldn’t the FSB have gone to court with Rosemary Hunter to say, these are the facts, give us a declarator [on what the facts are]," he said. What happened in Hunter’s...
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