Chief Information Officer, Stuart Scott, was dismissed by Microsoft Corporation, on Friday, for the reason of violating unspecified company policies, according to a written statement, read by company spokesman, Lou Gellos, on Tuesday. Scott was the head of the information technology department, for Microsoft, the largest software maker in the world.

The company stated that the dismissal came after an internal investigation, but did not say any further detail about the matter, although rumors say that he was charged of distributing Microsoft products among employees.

News of Scott's departure was first reported by ZDNet.com.

Scott, 41, has worked for the company for two years, since he came from General Electric Co. in July 2005, and had 80.000 employees under his leadership, while reporting to Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer. He previously worked 17 years for GE, where he named one of the best 100 CIOs in 2003, by the CIO Magazine.

He was Microsoft's third chief information officer in four years, but he could not be reached for any comment.

According to Microsoft’s web site, Stuart Scott holds degrees in engineering, mathematics and computer science from the University of Louisville and also he has an MBA from Vanderbilt University.

At a previous interview for Computerworld magazine, in September, Scott seemed delighted with his job and did not make any suggestions about a possible split between him and Microsoft Corporation.

Until the company will find a replacement for Scott, General Manager Shahla Aly and Corporate Vice President, Alain Crozier, will take care of his responsibilities, according to Microsoft officials.

Rob Helm, director of research at Directions on Microsoft, has declared that the fact that Scott was fired is rather unusual, since he is considered one of the best employees that the company had, but he added that the dismissal might have something to do with the violation of Human Resources.