Nothing to see here, move along, it's just a coinkydink

With now tens of thousands of pets across the country sickened and dead because of tainted wheat gluten in pet food, it seems that the CEO of the company that manufactures these pet foods, Mark Wien, just by sheer coincidence =ahem= happened to sell nearly half his shares in the company's stock just three weeks before the recall:

The reports show that Mark Wiens sold 14,000 units for C$102,900 (U.S. $89,700) on February 26 and February 27. As of Monday’s close of C$4.46, the units would be worth C$62,440.

After the sale, Wiens owned 17,193 units and had options to buy 101,812, the trading reports show.

Wiens was not available for comment, but company spokesman Sam Bornstein said on Tuesday “there was no link whatsoever” over the timing of the trades and the pet food recall.

“This is a guy who conducts himself to the highest ethical and moral standards and he wouldn’t do anything to imperil the high governance standards that he demands of himself and the company,” said Bornstein. “In fact, to do so would compromise his ability to make a living.”

Wiens told the Globe and Mail newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday it was a “horrible coincidence” that he sold nearly half his units before the pet food recall.

He added he did not hear of any possible problem with the company’s products until early March. Wiens also told the newspaper that the Ontario Securities Commission, Canada’s senior equities watchdog, had not approached him over the timing of the trades.

Oh, well, that makes it all OK then, right? Did Wiens suspect something was wrong? Did he have concerns over the Chinese wheat gluten? Had the company purchseed gluten from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company before? Menu Foods first received word from the testing company on March 2 that three animals were becoming ill. That's four days after the stock sale.

Something stinks royally about this.