Investigation into Hewlett-Packard could trouble Carly Fiorina's Senate bid

An international investigation is underway into whether Hewlett-Packard executives paid million in bribes to win lucrative overseas contracts. The alleged illicit activities are reported to have taken place while Carly Fiorina (R), now a California Senate candidate, was CEO.

Fiorina has made her business acumen central to her campaign. If the investigation remains in the news, it could cause problems for her bid to challenge Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

She denied any knowledge of the alleged misdeeds, but one of her primary opponents is claiming she must've known what was happening.

"I had no knowledge of any of these allegations," Fiorina told Northern California radio station KQED-FM on Friday. "I certainly welcome, as I'm sure the company does, I welcome the government's investigation. I mean, these are serious allegations. I have a long track record of firing people who are engaged in illegal or unethical behavior. And certainly had this occurred and I had been aware of it, I would have done the same."

State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R) told the Los Angeles Times he was skeptical of Fiorina's explanation.



"When confronted with this news, Fiorina will do what she always does: deny knowledge despite having been a famously micromanaging and bottom-line-oriented CEO," DeVore said.

He added, "Now that she aspires to constitutional high office, she owes Californians -- and herself -- something more. It's the one thing we have yet to see when she addresses her rocky and increasingly questionable corporate past: honesty."