Vas blatantly lied to the the staff at Novartis and the world when Novartis, under his watch, stated that there was a single communication with Michael Cohen.
These are the actual facts :
1. It was announced in September 2017 that Vas would become CEO in February 2018
2. Between the September announcement and February there was a handover taking place between Joe and Vas.
3. Vas duly took over as CEO on the 1st February 2018
4. From this day on Vas took FULL accountability for Novartis
5. On the 8th of May the Michael Cohen story broke. At that time there was an allegation that Novartis had paid Cohen 400k
6. On the 9th of May Novartis clarified that the payment was actually 1,2 million paid at 100k per month for 12 months. Novartis further stated that the one year agreement for which Essential Consultants was paid $100 000 per month "predated Vas Narasimhan becoming Novartis CEO and he was in no way involved with this agreement"
Up to now this all sounds very plausible.
7. Also on the 9th of May a Novartis "insider" made the following statement "At first it all sounded impressive, but toward the end of the meeting, everyone realized this was probably a slippery slope to engage him" the employee continued. "So they decided not to really engage Cohen for any activities after that"
Another Novartis carefully leaked statement to the media on the same day : "the drugmaker said that even though it determined after a single meeting that the firm would be unable to provide the services it anticipated and decided not to engage further, it was contractually bound to keep making monthly payments"
8. Vas then writes his now-famous soppy email to staff on the 10th May.
9. Also on the 10th May a Novartis spokesperson again re-iterates that they decided not to engage Cohen again after the first meeting.
Please bear in mind that this is now the period that Vas is CEO. He is accountable for Novartis and all its actions. He can see what is in the media. And he can see that the statement that Novartis only engaged Cohen ONCE and after that first engagement decided not to use his services. This is a SERIOUS issue for Novartis. Vas has every resource within Novartis at his disposal. He is a smart guy so he must have ensured that he was fully in the loop on all material aspects of the Cohen issue.
10. Novartis at this stage were still sitting on a somewhat arrogant high-horse in that they were pushing the story that what they did was "not wrong".
What Novartis did not anticipate was that on the 11th May a Senate Committee would send a letter of demand to Novartis with a whole range of questions that needed answering.
So how can I say Vas lied all along?
He allowed the lie that "Novartis only had one engagement with Cohen" to continue. He let people repeat this statement to give it credibility. As one reporter stated "Novartis seem to have a carefully choreographed response to this issue" and it seemed that Novartis was making strategic leaks to the media.
So the key message that kept on being repeated was that Novartis only had ONE engagement with Cohen.
AND THAT IS WHERE VAS LIED !!!
He allowed the lie to continue being perpetrated and thus became a part of the lie and indeed accountable for the lie.
So where's the evidence :
Novartis had to comply with the Senate Committee's demands for documentation. Bear in mind that this demand came on the 11th May AFTER Vas had allowed the lie about a single interaction with Michael Cohen to be perpetuated.
So let's look at the bundle of documents Novartis had to supply the Senate Committee:
- Page 159 is a meeting request from Felix Ehrat to Thomas Kendris, Dan Casserlly and Michael Cohen for a meeting on the 1st March 2017 at Novartis Corporate office in New York
- Page 160 is an entry in Joe Jimenez's diary for a telephone call between Joe and Michael Cohen for the 4 April 2017. Joe to call Cohen on his cellphone
- Page 161 shows details of a TC organized by Joe Jimenez with Michael Cohen for the 7th April 2017
- Page 163 is an email from Joe Jimenez to Michael Cohen on the 5th June 2017 regarding ideas for lowering drug prices
- Page 166 is an email from Joe Jimenez to Michael Cohen on the 13th June 2017 thanking Cohen
- Page 167 is an email from Michael Cohen to Joe Jimenez
- Page 169 is an email from Joe Jimenez to Michael Cohen on the 28th May 2017 in reply to a mail from Cohen
- Page 171 is an email from Michael Cohen to Joe Jimenez on the 24th August 2017
- Page 173 is a mail from Michael Cohen to Joe Jimenez dated 24 August 2017
- Page 188 is a mail from Michael Cohen to Joe Jimenez dated 24 August 2017
- Page 190 is an email from Joe Jimenez to Michael Cohen dated 24 August 2017 regarding an Autism drug
- Page 191 is an email from Joe Jimenez to Michael Cohen dated 25 August 2017 again referring the Autism drug
- Page 192 relates to an entry in Joe Jimenez's diary for a TC with Michael Cohen on the 15 September 2017
- Page 193 is an email from Michael Cohen to Joe Jimenez dated 22 September 2017
So I count FOURTEEN interactions versus the ONE that Novartis under the leadership of Vas Narasimhan insisted had occurred. So effectively Vas is guilty of THIRTEEN counts of lying.
http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4598680-Cohen-Novartis-Document-Trove.html
These are the actual facts :
1. It was announced in September 2017 that Vas would become CEO in February 2018
2. Between the September announcement and February there was a handover taking place between Joe and Vas.
3. Vas duly took over as CEO on the 1st February 2018
4. From this day on Vas took FULL accountability for Novartis
5. On the 8th of May the Michael Cohen story broke. At that time there was an allegation that Novartis had paid Cohen 400k
6. On the 9th of May Novartis clarified that the payment was actually 1,2 million paid at 100k per month for 12 months. Novartis further stated that the one year agreement for which Essential Consultants was paid $100 000 per month "predated Vas Narasimhan becoming Novartis CEO and he was in no way involved with this agreement"
Up to now this all sounds very plausible.
7. Also on the 9th of May a Novartis "insider" made the following statement "At first it all sounded impressive, but toward the end of the meeting, everyone realized this was probably a slippery slope to engage him" the employee continued. "So they decided not to really engage Cohen for any activities after that"
Another Novartis carefully leaked statement to the media on the same day : "the drugmaker said that even though it determined after a single meeting that the firm would be unable to provide the services it anticipated and decided not to engage further, it was contractually bound to keep making monthly payments"
8. Vas then writes his now-famous soppy email to staff on the 10th May.
9. Also on the 10th May a Novartis spokesperson again re-iterates that they decided not to engage Cohen again after the first meeting.
Please bear in mind that this is now the period that Vas is CEO. He is accountable for Novartis and all its actions. He can see what is in the media. And he can see that the statement that Novartis only engaged Cohen ONCE and after that first engagement decided not to use his services. This is a SERIOUS issue for Novartis. Vas has every resource within Novartis at his disposal. He is a smart guy so he must have ensured that he was fully in the loop on all material aspects of the Cohen issue.
10. Novartis at this stage were still sitting on a somewhat arrogant high-horse in that they were pushing the story that what they did was "not wrong".
What Novartis did not anticipate was that on the 11th May a Senate Committee would send a letter of demand to Novartis with a whole range of questions that needed answering.
So how can I say Vas lied all along?
He allowed the lie that "Novartis only had one engagement with Cohen" to continue. He let people repeat this statement to give it credibility. As one reporter stated "Novartis seem to have a carefully choreographed response to this issue" and it seemed that Novartis was making strategic leaks to the media.
So the key message that kept on being repeated was that Novartis only had ONE engagement with Cohen.
AND THAT IS WHERE VAS LIED !!!
He allowed the lie to continue being perpetrated and thus became a part of the lie and indeed accountable for the lie.
So where's the evidence :
Novartis had to comply with the Senate Committee's demands for documentation. Bear in mind that this demand came on the 11th May AFTER Vas had allowed the lie about a single interaction with Michael Cohen to be perpetuated.
So let's look at the bundle of documents Novartis had to supply the Senate Committee:
- Page 159 is a meeting request from Felix Ehrat to Thomas Kendris, Dan Casserlly and Michael Cohen for a meeting on the 1st March 2017 at Novartis Corporate office in New York
- Page 160 is an entry in Joe Jimenez's diary for a telephone call between Joe and Michael Cohen for the 4 April 2017. Joe to call Cohen on his cellphone
- Page 161 shows details of a TC organized by Joe Jimenez with Michael Cohen for the 7th April 2017
- Page 163 is an email from Joe Jimenez to Michael Cohen on the 5th June 2017 regarding ideas for lowering drug prices
- Page 166 is an email from Joe Jimenez to Michael Cohen on the 13th June 2017 thanking Cohen
- Page 167 is an email from Michael Cohen to Joe Jimenez
- Page 169 is an email from Joe Jimenez to Michael Cohen on the 28th May 2017 in reply to a mail from Cohen
- Page 171 is an email from Michael Cohen to Joe Jimenez on the 24th August 2017
- Page 173 is a mail from Michael Cohen to Joe Jimenez dated 24 August 2017
- Page 188 is a mail from Michael Cohen to Joe Jimenez dated 24 August 2017
- Page 190 is an email from Joe Jimenez to Michael Cohen dated 24 August 2017 regarding an Autism drug
- Page 191 is an email from Joe Jimenez to Michael Cohen dated 25 August 2017 again referring the Autism drug
- Page 192 relates to an entry in Joe Jimenez's diary for a TC with Michael Cohen on the 15 September 2017
- Page 193 is an email from Michael Cohen to Joe Jimenez dated 22 September 2017
So I count FOURTEEN interactions versus the ONE that Novartis under the leadership of Vas Narasimhan insisted had occurred. So effectively Vas is guilty of THIRTEEN counts of lying.
http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4598680-Cohen-Novartis-Document-Trove.html