The botched espionage affair that rocked French carmaker Renault the past few months is once again in the headlines. Renault's Chief Operating Officer once again handed his resignation to the CEO Carlos Ghosn, but this time the group’s boss accepted it.
The move comes after the completion of two audits on Renault's wrongful handling of the affair, which resulted in three executives being fired without justification. “The audits evidenced the chain of failings and dysfunctions within the company, particularly as regards the supervision and control of the Group Security Department,” reads Renault's press release.
However, Pélata's resignation doesn't mean he will leave the company, as CEO Carlos Ghosn explained today during a board meeting. “Beyond the executives involved, all the employees of Renault have suffered from this crisis. This is the reason for which major changes have been made in order to restore trust in the company. Patrick Pélata will leave Renault without leaving the group. I thank him for his action at the service of Renault and of the Alliance. His skills remain an asset for the Group,” Ghosn said.
As for the three dismissed executives, the Ghosn said that the company reached “an agreement in principle” to compensate them, without disclosing the financial details. The audits' conclusions also led to the dismissal of Rémi Pagnie, director of group security, as well as his two co-workers, Dominique Gevrey and Marc Tixador. Gevrey is the man who obtained more than €200,000 ($289,000) from Renault in order to pay an anonymous source for the spying tip. He is currently under arrest on fraud charges.
In order to avoid similar situations in the future, Renault has announced the creation of an Information Security Department “which will be exemplary for a manufacturing group.”
By Dan Mihalascu
