HP is still deciding if it is to hold chief executive in Israel, Gil Rosenfeld, responsible for grey marketing of HP equipment at its Middle Eastern subsidiary.

The company provided us with the following statement: "HP has determined that grey market activities were taking place at HP Israel and is currently conducting an extensive internal investigation. Grey market activities are not unlawful but they violate HP’s own policies and its Standards of Business Conduct. HP has made no decisions as of yet, but regardless of the outcome, HP remains fully committed to the IT market in Israel."

A phone call to Jan Zadak, the man in charge of the investigation, was met with a "no comment" and advice to ring corporate communications.

Gil Rosenfeld, and 13 other HP executives, were told late last week that their jobs were under threat.

The letter sent to Rosenfeld, seen by the Register, said the activities under investigation were a serious violation of HP's standards of business conduct. He was due to appear at a meeting on Sunday but thit was cancelled. Rosenfeld is not going to go quietly and is demanding to see the results of any internal investigation. ®

Related stories

Cisco equipment at heart of £9m alleged scam (14 July 2006)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/07/14/cisco_grey_market_bust/
HP crosses out parallel trader (31 May 2006)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/05/31/hp_bluecom/
HP sacks Israeli CEO - then reinstates him (27 March 2006)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/03/27/hp_israel_meltdown/
Grey marketing rubbed out at SCC (15 March 2006)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/03/15/scc_closes_globaldis/
HP takes 12 'one-time' charges in a row (14 March 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/14/hp_charges_tradition/
HP stops Expansys importing non-Euro PDAs (21 July 2005)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/07/21/hp_wins_grey_case/
Trouble in Paradise (20 September 2004)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2004/09/20/paradise_administrators_chosen/