Court Finds ESOMAR Allegations against CEO Unfounded

A judge in Amsterdam has ruled that ESOMAR's election misconduct allegations against its former CEO found 'no support in the facts whatsoever', and the organisation has written to members to say as much.

On December 2nd the global industry body wrote to members saying it would rerun its elections for Council after uncovering 'serious misconduct' and that two members of staff had been fired. At the time ESOMAR said that an investigation into the November election of Nikki Lavoie as 2023-24 Council President, and of eight other new members, had 'turned up sufficient evidence to conclude that interference occurred during the process, and the results must be considered invalid'. The note cited 'serious misconduct on the part of members of ESOMAR staff during the course of the most recent election cycle, as well as during the subsequent investigation'.

Some members and commentators are now calling for an independent enquiry into the affair after the Court entirely disagreed with this, certainly as far as the CEO allegations are concerned. On Wednesday 28th December ESOMAR wrote again to members on the instructions of the Court, and issued a statement confirming that its earlier allegations that the CEO had 'contributed to the election fraud within the organization, and ... also committed serious misconduct during the following internal investigation' - justifying a prompt dismissal - had 'found no support in the facts whatsoever'. The association said it would not be making any further comment on the matter.

Lavoie said in a reply to discussion in Ray Poynter's group on LinkedIn: '1. Running a solid and trusted election process is at the top of the Council's priority list. The work has already begun to configure the election committee and establish a partnership with a new provider - information which will surely be communicated in the coming weeks as more details are finalized. 2. Several members of the Council, as well as Pravin, are working closely with the staff to ensure continuity and stability across the many projects and touchpoints ESOMAR has with the membership. Again - you'll be hearing more about this soon'.

Web site: www.esomar.org .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.