Google's country manager in Kenya, Olga Arara-Kimani, has left her post in the wake of a data poaching scandal involving the country's largest business directory, Mocality.
However, confusion still remains over whether Arara-Kimani was fired or left of her own accord.
The move comes two weeks after Mocality accused Google of fraudulently using its data to sell competing products to clients. Google subsequently initiated an investigation and apologised to Mocality for the misuse of its data.
While Google's announcement, that it has taken action against employees involved in the scandal, has led to widespread reports that Arara-Kimani was fired, she claims to have resigned as a matter of principle.
“I confirm I have left Google Kenya. As the leader of the Kenya office, I felt that the buck stopped with me and I decided to leave,” she told Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation on Monday.
This is at odds with statements from Google's VP for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Nelson Mattos, who earlier unreservedly apologised to Mocality and announced an investigation. Subsequently, Mattos claimed the company had taken direct action to reorganise its Kenyan branch, as a result of the scandal.
“We've concluded our investigation into the serious allegations about our use of data from Mocality's Web site in Kenya,” he said. “We're very sorry this happened. We've taken appropriate action with the people involved and made changes in our operations to ensure this doesn't occur again.”
Joe Mucheru, the deputy country manager, has taken over temporary control of Google's Kenyan operations, until Arara-Kimani's replacement is found.
The scandal erupted on 13 January, when Mocality CEO Stefan Magdalinski accused Google in a blog post of unethical business practices. Since October last year, according to Magdalinski, Google had been “systematically accessing Mocality's database and attempting to sell their competing product to our business owners. They have been telling untruths about their relationship with us, and about our business practices, in order to do so.”
Mocality stumbled upon the anti-competitive practice after receiving numerous phone calls from businesses listed on its database regarding a Web site design service they were apparently offering in partnership with Google.
Mocality does not offer Web design or domain hosting services and has never had a joint venture with Google.
“One or two business owners were clearly getting confused, because they wanted help with their Web site, and we don't currently offer Web sites, only a listing. Initially, we didn't think much of it, but the confusing calls continued through November,” said Magdalinski.
To get to the bottom of the matter, Mocality launched its own investigation, discovering that a team of people using Google IP addresses had been accessing contact details of Kenyan businesses, and approaching them offering their own domain name for a small free under a joint venture between Mocality and Google.
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