Renault’s No. 2 quits over spy case

11/04/11 19:07 CET

corporate

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Renault’s Chief Operating Officer Patrick Pelata has resigned his job over the spy case that never was but he will stay with the French carmaker performing an as yet unspecified role within the Renault-Nissan alliance.

Pelata stepped down at an extraordinary board meeting held to discuss the debacle in which Renault fired three executives for selling secrets before finding out the accusations against them were false.

Chief executive Carlos Ghosn, who has survived the scandal, presented reorganisation plans to the board during the meeting.

The three top executives wrongfully accused of selling secrets are in line for huge compensation payments – between 2.5 and three million euros each.

At the board meeting directors where shown an independent investigation report carried out for Renault which called the company’s management style “dysfunctional.”

As well as Pelata several other executives have resigned.

Earlier the French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said: “If mistakes have been made, those who are responsible should go, if what they have done wrong justifies that.”

The affair has been an embarrassment for the French state, which owns 15 percent of the carmaker.

More about: Electric cars, Espionage, France, Renault

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