Kraft Foods owned Cadbury India is in a regulatory mess after some of its officials tried to bribe their way through important approvals
At 2:20 pm on September 6, 2010, an important rendezvous took place at the Taj Chandigarh. Rajan Nair, who is responsible for security at Cadbury’s operations in India, was there to meet a man who had provided canteen services to the company’s factory in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. Sensing the gravity of the situation, Nair had informed his boss Adrian Wong, director security and special investigations at Kraft Foods, who had flown over 4,000 km from Singapore for the meeting.
At the meeting, Mohit, the canteen services provider, went about detailing allegations of corruption and wrongdoing at the company’s Baddi facility.
While Mohit conceded he was upset about the manner in which his services were terminated, he said he had enough evidence to show the company had bribed government officials. He planned to make life difficult for Cadbury, which was taken over by Kraft Foods in 2010.
First off, Kumaran advised the company to not respond to the Excise letter.
(This story appears in the 17 August, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)