From Fortune to BusinessWeek to the Wall Street Journal business writers are questioning Apple's business ethics along with those of former Vice President Al Gore who sits on the Apple board.

Mark Veverka writing in for business magazine Barron's, claims like many writers, that Apple now has a serious credibility problem.

He claims that Jobs doesn't believe his shareholders merit full disclosure of his medical condition, even though he was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer several years ago. But even if Jobs elected to disclose more detailed information about his current health, I'm not certain that his shareholders would believe him at this point.
It was only 12 months ago that Jobs was under investigation by the US Securities Commission for failing to disclose business dealings that involved Apple.

Veverka writes that Apple and its directors, who include Al Gore, have a remarkably dismal track record when it comes to transparency. Among their greatest shortcomings was to allow questionable stock-option practices until finally forced to conduct an internal investigation, which led to the acquittal of Jobs at the expense of former Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson, who was unceremoniously thrown under the bus.

It also kept secret that Jobs had been diagnosed with cancer for about nine months before undergoing surgery in 2004. The latter was done in the name of Jobs' right to privacy.

Two weeks ago, around the time of the Macworld trade show in San Francisco, which Jobs didn't attend, the company blamed his severe weight loss on a "hormonal imbalance." Last week, the company said that Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence until June because his condition is more "complex" than originally thought.

However many believe that Jobs will never return to Apple and that Apple will over the next six months engineer PR spin to manage his exit from the Company.

Gary Lutin, who runs the Shareholder Forum corporate governance advocacy group in New York said of the situation "Common sense also suggests only two possibilities for the board members: Either they didn't ask the questions they should have, or they did ask but didn't report what they learned to public investors," Lutin adds.

"There is no evidence that the recent information provided by the company over the past couple of weeks is untrue. However, by the same token, it's hard to avoid the suspicion that shareholders aren't getting the full story. Apple is a repeat offender of failing the smell test. Little wonder that the company's stock fell by some 10% for the week, to $81 by early Friday".

Veverka claims that Apple investors have been conditioned by the company to expect the worst. Published reports speculate that Jobs may be facing another pancreas-related operation, which would be his third. An Apple spokesman wouldn't comment on speculation about further surgery and didn't have any additional information beyond the company's earlier statements.

Jobs is not only CEO but an iconic micro-manager who happens to be one of the most powerful marketers in the world. It's high time that Apple's board articulate a complete and transparent succession plan that would minimize the circus of speculation now surrounding the state of Steve Jobs' health.

See www.barrons.com for more