Huntingdon Life Sciences announced at the end of February that its auditor, Deloitte & Touche,
. . . will not stand for reelection following completion of the 2002 audit. D&T has advised LSR [Huntingdon] that their decision was made as a result of harassment they received from animal rights extremists and not as a result of any accounting dispute, disagreement or concern with LSR.
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty quickly took credit for Deloitte & Touche’s decision, posting on the SHAC web site,
This evening, as late as they possibly could, in a pathetic attempt to avoid the press, Deloitte & Touche have waved the white flag and surrendered to SHAC.
. . .
There has never been a response to a target like this one — we were swamped with phone calls and emails all day long as activists went to war against Deloitte & Touche. Offices were picketed, home demo’s were carried out on directors, locks were glued, offices and homes were spray painted. There was leafleting, there were mass phone calls, there were mass e-mails, there were actions taking place all over he world daily. Most of all there was relentless drive and determination of all of you to drive SHAC’s message home: sever your links with HLS or face the consequences.
The Financial Times quoted an unnamed Deloitte & Touche employee as saying, “There has been criminal damage, windows broken, doors glued shut, and intimidation of wives and young children of several staff.”
Unfortunately running away might not solve the problem. SHAC’s Greg Avery told AcountancyAge.Com that the animal rights group would likely continue to target Deloitte & Touche,
If the latest annual report comes out of HLS with Deloitte’s name on it [as auditor] then we will still consider them to be the company’s auditors.
HLS meanwhile appealed for the British government to follow through on promises of cracking down on such extremism. In a statement the company said,
This is yet another example of how the law and order systems of this country are unable to protect individuals and companies from the illegal acts that inevitably now accompany animal rights protests. How long can the British government allow this extortion to continue?
How long indeed.
Sources:
Amazing! Deloitte & Touche pull out after only 10 days. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, March 2003.
Form 8-K Current Report. Life Sciences Research, February 28, 2003.
Deloitte quits as auditor of drug-testing group. Patrick Jenkins, Financial Times, March 1, 2003.
Deloitte severs ties with HLS. Paul Grant, AccountancyAge.Com, February 2, 2003.
Arrest as protesters target HLS auditor. Cambridge News, February 27, 2003.