"Renault Three" Exonerated, Security Employee Charged With Fraud
It appears that the Renault EV espionage case crazy train has rolled to a halt, as the FT reports that CEO Carlos Ghosn and his right-hand-man Patrick Pélata have apologized to the three executives they accused of spying. According to a Renault press release,
Mr Ghosn and Mr Pélata now plan to meet the executives, promising compensation for “serious prejudice” to their reputations and careers
And according to BusinessWeek, Mr Pélata will likely be offering his resignation today, as
Renault called an emergency board meeting for 4 p.m. local time that may lead to sanctions against managers involved in the case, two people familiar with the matter said. Prosecutors yesterday issued “organized fraud” charges against Dominique Gevrey, the security chief whose internal investigation led to the firing of upstream development chief Michel Balthazard and two other executives.
But, as AN [sub]’s James Treece puts it, Pélata likely won’t stay unemployed for long, as being fired for loyalty is almost a positive in the super-competitive world of high-level auto executives. The mystery now: did Mr Gevrey simply attempt to defraud Renault, or was he part of a coordinated effort to destabilize the French automaker? Gevrey won’t reveal the source of his information about espionage inside Renault, but we may yet learn more about this strange farce if he cracks under investigation.
[UPDATE via AN [sub]: Ghosn and Pélata plan to give up their 2010 bonuses and profits from 2011 stock options after they had to apologize publicly to the three men earlier on Monday, Renault said in a statement.]
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> The mystery now: did Mr Gevrey simply attempt to defraud Renault, or was he > part of a coordinated effort to destabilize the French automaker? He did it for the lulz.