CEO deposition
Interviewer : We are here to discuss the termination of Mr. Suresh from the position of CFO at the company. He has raised a grievance both on the act itself and the way it was undertaken. We will ask you some questions now and are recording this conversation.
CEO : Please go ahead
I : You are on video in the company's AGM and several other meetings and events saying "We need a new CFO, someone who is more senior". Doesn't that mean you wanted the incumbent to be terminated?
C : No, where did I say that? I just said we need a new guy.
I : Did you have two CFO positions in mind?
C : No
I : So just the one. And you said you wanted a new guy for the role. That implies the current role-holder would have to go, doesn't it?
C : That is your interpretation.
I : Did you have another role in mind for the current CFO incumbent?
C : No, I did not like the guy
I : So you wanted him out of the company?
C : He was a misfit to our culture. He was too young and not able to perform his function.
I : But that was being looked into by the Board. They had explicitly instructed that he not be terminated while they were looking into your complaint that he was a culture misfit.
C : Yes
I : You still advised HR to terminate him?
C : No, I just advised HR to hire a new guy in his place
I : You knew they would have to fire the incumbent in order to hire a new guy
C : You're just putting words into my mouth. Let me say this once again - I just advised that a new CFO be hired. I'm deeply saddened that Mr. Suresh got terminated in the process - I had no idea he would be terminated - I had no control over this aspect.
HR Head deposition
I : Did you issue the termination letter to Mr. Suresh?
H : No, it was issued by our automated system. We have automated all communications relating to payroll
I : But you would have fed the input and programmed it to send out the letter
H : Yes, I did. I fed in the text and set the date and time for it to be sent to Mr. Suresh
I : So you sent the letter
H : No, the system sent it. You can see the email - it is from the HR system email id, not from me. You would have to catch the software people to trace exactly who was responsible for my instruction being carried out.
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The enquiry concluded that while it is true that the hiring of a new guy was a conscious act by management, the termination of the incumbent was a spontaneous system-driven act and cannot be traced back to a singular directive or instruction from any of the CXOs
