Kerry chastises Tyco board for rejecting move back to U.S.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry on Wednesday criticized a recent decision by Tyco International directors to keep the troubled conglomerate in Bermuda.

The board of directors promised to study relocating the company's headquarters to Delaware last March after 26 percent of its shareholders voted in favor of the move. But it ultimately decided that shareholders would be served best by the company remaining in Bermuda, according to a company news release issued Friday.

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"They continue to avoid corporate responsibility," said Kerry, citing a U.S. Securities and Exchange filing in which the company said moving to the United States "could have substantial adverse tax consequences for certain company shareholders," namely, those whose shares are worth more than $50,000.

"Isn't that too bad that somebody might have to pay little more burden at the upper end, while the average worker gets screwed by these particular moves," Kerry told New Hampshire reporters in a phone call from Iowa, where the race is tightening in the final days before Monday's caucuses.
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