NEW YORK, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A former auditor of Tyco International testified in New York his firm questioned Tyco's decision not to disclose millions in employee loans and bonuses.
But, Richard Scalzo,a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner, said there was no objection when Tyco's top executives said the payments weren't important for investors, USA Today reported Thursday.
On the stand at the trial of former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski, Scalzo testified his audit teams listed some of the payments as "critical items" that were sent to the company after the auditors reviewed material for Tyco's financial statements.
Scalzo testified PricewaterhouseCoopers asked the Kozlowski-led management team to explain Tyco's rationale for not disclosing the payments in financial reports publicly filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The payments at issue included multimillion dollar bonuses and no-interest loans to Kozlowski and co-defendant Mark Swartz, Tyco's former CFO. The two are charged with looting $600 million from Tyco in unauthorized loans, bonuses and stock sales. They have denied wrongdoing.
