Digicel Samoa C.E.O. Seiuli Deepak Khanna and Chief Operations Officer, Harpreet Bhullar are no longer employed by the company, following a month-long investigation.

This was confirmed by the Fiji-based Digicel Pacific C.E.O. Shally Jannif on Thursday evening in response to questions from the Samoa Observer. 

Seiuli and Mr. Bhullar made their exit from Digicel Samoa last week, which comes on the back of complaints lodged by several young Samoan women alleging misconduct amongst other accusations.

“Any complaint received by Digicel is taken very seriously and where warranted, appropriate actions are taken to ensure our continued alignment to our core values,” said Ms. Jannif, in an email response to the Samoa Observer. 

“Additionally, I can confirm that Seiuli Deepak and Harpreet Bhullar are no longer employees of Digicel Pacific.”

The Digicel Pacific C.E.O. did not say as to whether the top officials from the company had their service of employment terminated or were forced to resign. 

Telephone calls made by this newspaper to Seiuli’s number on Thursday were not answered. 

Mr. Bhullar on the other hand denied he was dismissed from the company, and instead saying he “voluntarily resigned”. 

“It is not a termination, it’s a voluntary resignation,” he replied before he hung up. 

A letter of complaint lodged by one of the female talents, which was sighted by the Samoa Observer, made reference to alleged inappropriate behaviour and conduct by the Chief Operations Officer towards the young women. 

The female alleged that the manager asked the young talents inappropriate questions and that having scantily clad women appearing in the company's promotions is not in line with Samoan culture. 

It is understood that the Digicel Samoa C.E.O. came under scrutiny for the conduct of Mr. Bhullar and was questioned during the investigation. 

Digicel staff have confirmed Mr. Bullar was placed on leave for more than a month pending the internal investigation. In light of the investigation, Digicel Samoa announced the appointment of Acting C.E.O. Peter Rigamoto who begins his tenure immediately. 

In a press statement issued on Thursday night by the Digicel Samoa, it confirmed the replacement of Seiuli by Mr. Rigamoto. 

Ms. Jannif is said the recruitment process for a replacement C.E.O. has started and announcement will be done once this position is confirmed. 

Supporting Mr. Rigamoto in running the day-to-day operations of Digicel Samoa will be Pepe Christian Fruean, who is the Director of Government relations, a former C.E.O. over a number of years and has been in the business for 16 years.

 “With Pepe and Peter on the job, I am excited to see what amazing things are in store for team Samoa,” said the Digicel Pacific C.E.O.

“I would also like to bid farewell to outgoing C.E.O. Deepak Khanna and wish him luck for his future endeavors.” 

Ms. Jannif was also asked  to comment on how the company was addressing concerns about the way young woman are dressed for TV promotions considering Samoan culture. 

In response, Ms. Jannif said Digicel Pacific has been part of the Samoan community since 2006 and “we deeply respect the culture and values of the country”. 

“We work together with local authorities, stakeholders and community groups to ensure we follow guidelines in relation to advertising and are respective of the Samoan culture. 

“We absolutely respect the country’s cultural values and have taken steps to ensure our promotions accurately reflect Samoan culture.” 

• In the article titled "Digicel Bosses Exit" it was suggested that Digicel Samoa C.E.O Seiuli Deepak Khanna is no longer employed by the company following a month-long investigation. It was further suggested in our article that Mr Khanna came under scrutiny for the conduct of Mr Bhullar the Chief Operations Officer who is now no longer employed by the company. The Editorial Board has received a complaint from Mr Khanna that our article, in so far as it concerns him, is inaccurate. The Editorial Board has received further clarification from Digicel Management (which has already been printed online) that it did not confirm that either Mr Khanna or Mr Bhullar leaving the employment of the company was the result of any month-long investigation. The Editorial Board unreservedly accepts the clarification provided by Digicel Management and wishes to clarify that Seiuli Deepak Khanna did not leave the employ of Digicel due to any month-long investigation, and it further accepts that he left Digicel in a respectful manner. Any negative inference taken from our article of Friday 16 December 2022 with respect to Mr Khanna is deeply regretted. Editorial Board