A corporate sponsor of the rugby world cup is embroiled in a legal ruck over claims of foul play at its UK headquarters.
A former manager at Asahi, the Japanese-owned drinks firm, has alleged they were sacked for blowing the whistle on cocaine use by staff.
The line outs are said to have taken place at work parties on the fifth floor of Asahi’s new office in Surrey where staff have a licensed bar.
Details of the hotly-disputed legal claim against Asahi, the official beer of the world cup, emerge on a crunch semi-final weekend that sees England tonight battling South Africa for a place in the next week's final against New Zealand.
For its part, Asahi has already engaged in some early counter rucking and promises to vigorously defend the employment tribunal claim for breach of contract and whistleblowing, which it describes as “vexatious and misleading.”
Asahi further claims the manager, who had been at the company for eight months, was sacked for “poor performance only” and is now trying to “extort” compensation using “invented” claims.
The company does not deny that the manager was sacked after reporting allegations of cocaine use by staff, but declines to give details of what steps it took to investigate due to the legal proceedings.