Rakesh Kapoor, the chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, issued a personal apology for 96 deaths in South Korea, one day after the region’s biggest retailer called for a boycott of the consumer goods giant.
R akesh Kapoor, the chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, issued a personal apology for 96 deaths in South Korea, one day after the region’s biggest retailer called for a boycott of the consumer goods giant.
South Korea’s supermarket chain Lotte Mart has cleared the company’s products from its shelves amid a growing backlash in the country, which is a major source of growth for Reckitt Benckiser’s emerging markets business.
The move comes the same week as the company admitted for the first time selling a humidifier disinfectant that killed 96 people and caused illness for a further 400.
R eckitt Benckiser — best known for brands including Cillit Bang, Dettol, and Durex — withdrew the disinfectant made by its Korean Oxy unit in 2011 after a government probe suggested a link between lung damage and humidifier disinfectants. The environment ministry has said none of the tainted products were sold outside South Korea.
Earlier this week Reckitt Benckiser’s Asia boss, Ataur Safdar, issued a public apology, but was attacked by some emotional relatives who slapped him at the press briefing.
Mr Kapoor said at the company’s annual general meeting: «I am personally very sorry and very much regret that our Oxy product caused harm to people in South Korea.
«We must acknowledge this and move on to make sure this doesn’t happen again and I am personally committed to ensuring that this doesn’t happen again.»
M r Kapoor, who has worked at Reckitt Benckiser since 1987, has come under fire after his pay package was doubled to £23m.
Just under a quarter of shareholders, 23.
