A former salesman at an IT multinational alleged that he was offered a “bribe” by a middleman for a distributor who is claimed to have benefited from an alleged discount of hundreds of thousands of euro on a contract with an Arab government ministry, a tribunal has heard.
Cork-headquartered Solar Winds is defending statutory complaints under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 and the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 brought by Ali Izzy, a former salesman based at its Cork offices managing business with clients in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Bahrain.
Mr Izzy was dismissed on foot of a company probe in summer 2024, following complaints of “insubordination” against him from Abdul Rehman, the former sales director for the Middle East, a sitting of the Workplace Relations Commission in Cork heard.
Mr Rehman said in evidence on Tuesday that he reported Mr Izzy to human resources (HR) after he “refused” an additional discount for the government ministry in a deal being brokered by the middleman.
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Mark Harty SC, appearing for Mr Izzy with David Byrnes BL, instructed by Gráinne O’Donovan of Douglas Law, put it to Mr Rehman that his client had “difficulty” with the middleman.
It was after the distributor “attempted to defraud the company and bribe” his client, counsel said.
Mr Rehman accepted that Mr Izzy had mentioned to him being approached with the alleged bribe offer, but said: “He has to go through the official HR channels. It’s nothing to do with me.”
Mr Harty put it to him that he “must have been aware of improper actions” on the part of the middleman.
“No,” Mr Rehman replied.
He said Mr Izzy had shown him nothing in writing to “prove he was offered a bribe”.
“Did you ever get offered a bribe by [the middleman]?” Mr Harty asked.“No,” Mr Rehman said.
Mr Rehman’s complaint email was read into the record by Mary Fay BL, appearing instructed by Arthur Cox for the respondent, Solar Winds.
It stated: “Ali’s behaviour is disrespectful and unacceptable over the past few days. He recalled the discount twice after he’d had approval twice ... we had to do the process three times,” she quoted.
Ms Fay said Mr Izzy had made “admissions” during a disciplinary process meeting that he “cancelled the quotes in the system as that was not his deal and he was unhappy with the big discount”.
The tribunal was told Mr Izzy told a company investigator that the middleman “had tried to bribe him” and “offered him €10,000”. The minutes recorded that Mr Izzy’s position was that the “actual price” of the deal was €1.3 million and “not what is mentioned in the system”, Ms Fay submitted.
Mr Harty had put it to Mr Rehman earlier that the discount offered in the end was 62 per cent and that the price was reduced to between €450,000 and €500,000.
Mr Rehman said discounts on such deals could “go up to 90 per cent” in the Middle East and that once VAT and professional services were accounted for it was “not a very significant jump”.
Adjudicator Tom O’Driscoll has adjourned the case overnight after hearing further evidence from the company disciplinary officer.
