In a conference-call recording obtained by Greentech Media, LDK Solar Chief Financial Officer Jack Lai said a former financial controller brought up concerns about the company's silicon inventory while he has still at the company.
Last week, the company said Charley Situ sent e-mail letters to LDK management and others (including the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission, according to a Piper Jaffray report), alleging inconsistencies in LDK's inventory reporting after he was fired.
During the call, Lai said the company first heard the allegations "a couple hours" after Situ was fired.
Later, Lai said while the e-mail to the SEC wasn't sent until after Situ was fired, he contacted company management about the allegations before he left the company.
Lai said he told Situ to work with his staff to reconcile the discrepancy, but that Situ instead put together a report on his own, without understanding the company's practices.
"Unfortunately, his effort was not enough to make him part of the process," Lai said. "So he's very much on his own, guessing, but again the company is a 6,000-people company and producing 50 megawatts a quarter. If one person tries to see anything worldwide, I think it's not very easy."
He said Situ was already on notice for poor job performance.
"In a sense, he is very much below the par, but he wants to have a lot of money and just [was] not a good fit for the company," Lai said.
Lai emphasized that the firing had nothing to do with Situ's allegations, job performance or understanding of the inventory process.
Situ didn't show up for work for eight days in a row, without having time off or a holiday or giving medical reasons, and that violates the company's attendance rules, Lai said.
Situ was unable to be reached for comment.