MutualFundWire.com: Strong OK With Whistle Blowing
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Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Strong OK With Whistle Blowing


Strong Investments employees with a hunch that an executive or employee is doing something fishy could have the opportunity to report their suspicions in an anonymous way if the new president of the embattled mutual fund company has his way.

Phillip Peterson, said he will recommend to the board of Strong Mutual Funds that it hire an outside firm to start a whistle-blowing Web site and phone line for Strong employees who might feel too intimidated to talk about any suspicions to an insider, Reuters reports. The board is scheduled to meet on February 19.

"You can have excellent controls in place, but if someone with a lot of power and authority tells someone to just ignore something, the chances are they are going to do that," said Peterson. "If they have an outlet like this, they can blow the whistle."

Peterson, a former KPMG partner, was appointed to the new position of president last month after Dick Strong resigned. Peterson has been manadated to monitor compliance with the law and its own trading policies. Peterson added that his duties as president of the funds will also include dealing with shareholders, law firms, reporters and the SEC.


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