Unilever whistleblower on terrible cost he has borne for speaking out

It's an understatement to say whistleblower Juan Lerena has borne a terrible cost for exposing abusive practices by his former employer Sime Darby and fellow multinational Unilever. Forced into defending himself in a court action where top legal firm ENS represented Sime Darby, the judgment against Lerena (which we published as a right of reply) proves US president Abraham Lincoln's quip that in a court of law "he who represents himself has a fool for a client." The judgment paints Lerena as un-cooperative, and ruled that he must pay Sime Darby almost R100m. It is also used by the company to show staff and customers Lerena's allegations were groundless. Which is all very well, except that Sime Darby admitted guilt to the Competition Commission, paid a R30m fine and promised to build a R130m plant to compete with Unilever – the company Lerena claims was its partner in commercial crime. In this interview on Rational Radio Lerena gives his side of the sorry saga. – Alec Hogg

Whistleblower Juan Lerena's day in court representing himself could cost him tens of millions of rand. Lerena arrived in the High Court, as he tells it, "with only three pieces of paper with the intention of postponing the case of Sime Darby against him. He said he wanted to give his legal team some time to prepare appropriately for the case.

But the judge decided he was not interested in a postponement saying that Lerena "looked like somebody that was quite able to defend himself "and that he did not want to postpone the case; he wanted it to start immediately. Lerena said he was taken by surprise; it was daunting, standing up in court and knowing that the case was going to proceed immediately. He says the court case happened by default.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___