Why did Pfizer hire detectives to spy on former PFE executive?

Pramod Lele was one of Pfizer's spy victims in India. Documents released by a former Pfizer finance executive reveal how he and others were followed by detectives hired by Pfizer.

Download the full surveillance reports here:
Surveillance strategy to Handa, June 2003
Surveillance/Phone records Dinesh Lakhani April 2003
Surveillance/Phone records Dinesh Lakhani May 2003
Surveillance Janak Mathuradas May 2003
Surveillance/Phone records Pramod Lele, December 2003
Surveillance report S.V. Phene December 2003

Lele had been the country manager of Warner-Lambert (Parke-Davis) in India, before the Warner-Lambert/Pfizer merger. He had started reporting to Pfizer in 2001, when he was suddenly asked to resign.

After Lele was forced out, Hocine Sidi Said (left) took over as country manager of Pfizer India. He reported to Charles Sarris who was the Regional Vice President for Asia & Japan region. Charles Sarris, in turn, reported to Hocine's father, Mohand Sidi Said. Mohand Sidi Said was President, Japan/Asia/Africa/Latin America/Middle East and he reported directly to Karen Katen. Shortly after Mohand Sidi Said retired in 2004, Hocine resigned from Pfizer India, in early 2005. We don't know if any of this had anything to do with Pfizer whistleblower Idnani's early allegations about selling a plant way below market value, as described in my post "Pfizer Finance Executive Blows the Whistle - Part One"

But we do know that in December 2003, almost two years after Lele was forced out, Pfizer sent their hired goons to spy on Lele. Why did they do this? You may wonder.

Some of Pfizer's surveillance appears to be related to shareholders who challenged the merger. That monitoring of individuals took place in April/May of 2003. But the legal challenge against the merger was completed in the first week of November 2003. So that can't be the reason for a spy operation in December 2003.

The second wave of detectives were dispatched to monitor both Lele and real estate executive Phene in December 2003. In my post "Interview with two angry Pfizer spy victims" I described Phene's unusual connection to Pfizer and Pfizer India's CEO.

But I didn't go into the reasons Pfizer may have had to spy on Lele, long after he'd been forced out and the legal case settled.

So here is something that might be the explanation:

Lele wrote an article in an India newspaper which came out in the Diwali (October) issue of 2003. And Pfizer could not have liked what Lele had to say. In the article Lele describes what really happened inside Pfizer and how Pfizer management handled the Warner-Lambert acquisition.

It is very possible that Pfizer's goons targeted him because of what he wrote in this article (MD stands for Managing Director, not for the American M.D. or physician); to simply try to dig up some dirt on him. Below is a slightly imperfect translation:







Of course, for a big corporation to send out hired goons to monitor shareholders and former executives almost resembles mafia activity, or how Russia sends agents to kill dissidents.

And while it may appear surprising for a large corporation to send out detectives to dig up dirt, I think that is exactly how Pfizer operates.

When they fired me after I blew the whistle on illegal conduct which Pfizer was recently forced to pay a $35 million fine for, they called me all kinds of names:

The New York Times reported in its December 2, 2005 article that a Pfizer PR person, Mr. Fitzhenry, "also remarked that Mr. Rost had been the vice president in charge of marketing Genotropin at Pfizer, so that he was essentially blowing the whistle on his own conduct.” And the American Council on Science and Health, an organization funded by Pfizer, among others, labeled me “Whiny Whistleblower of the Year” in a December 30, 2005 press release. And in a Brandweek March 20, 2006 article, it was reported that Pfizer called my qui tam suit "parasitical."

So not only was it not enough to simply fire me; to make sure I never got another job again Pfizer labeled me a criminal and a parasite.

No one should be surprised if Pfizer hires detectives to throw mud at people.

I think the fact that Pfizer's head of security is a former FBI agent says it all. After all, former head of FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, had surveillance, even of Presidents, down to an art.

Pfizer is simply acting like any minor dictatorship when it comes to suppressing dissidents.