Novartis AGM Question: Michael Cohen Payments
Question: The USA congresses questioning of Michael Cohen ended a few hours ago and Michael Cohen’s explanation of the deal differed substantially from that of the Novartis explanation. What control mechanism was being circumvented by payments of $99‘980 rather than the $100‘000 that is more generally reported.
Answer from Nr Reinhardt. We have not yet seen what Mr. Cohen said.
Comment: Our concern is that if Mr. Cohen's version is correct (he is though convicted of lying to congress) then the credibility of Novartis is once more in the spotlight.
Novartis Statement 9 May 2018
A senior Novartis official said that Cohen reached out shortly after Trump’s election “promising access” to the new administration.
Novartis said it signed a one-year contract with Cohen’s shell company, Essential Consultants, for $100,000 per month in February 2017, shortly after Trump was inaugurated as president.
Novartis said it believed Cohen “could advise the company as to how the Trump administration might approach certain U.S. health-care policy matters, including the Affordable Care Act.”
But just a month after signing the deal, Novartis executives had their first meeting with Cohen, and afterward “determined that Michael Cohen and Essentials Consultants would be unable to provide the services that Novartis had anticipated.”
“As the contract, unfortunately, could only be terminated for cause, payments continued to be made until the contract expired by its own terms in February 2018,” Novartis said.
Michael Cohen Version 28 February 2019
Michael Cohen is claiming that pharma giant Novartis had tried to set him up as a lobbyist for the company in an attempt to gain direct access to Trump and other influential government officials.
“Novartis sent me their contract, which stated specifically that they wanted me to lobby,” Cohen told lawmakers in today’s high profile testimony on Capitol Hill. “That they wanted me to provide access to government, including the president.”
Cohen estimated he had interacted with the drugmaker six times—Novartis' initial account admits one meeting—and said the company initially wanted more than insight; it wanted influence.
“That paragraph was crossed out by me, initialed, and written in my own handwriting that says I will not lobby or do government relations work,”
And the disbarred attorney contested Novartis’ position — outlined by company sources to various media outlets at the time — that he had contacted the company. Novartis, he said, sought him out.
Rebuttal: A Novartis spokesman on Wednesday said the company "previously addressed all questions regarding our relationship with Essential Consultants and we consider this matter closed."
The Swiss Shareholder Association hopes that this unfortunate episode is cleared up rapidly with all due diligence and corrective measures so that one can move on.
