The Board of Directors has validated, by the end of January, the departure of its CEO, convicted of “complicity of diversion of public funds” in the Tapie case.
By
Stéphane Richard dreamed of remaining orange pattern for a fourth term from May 2022. It is now no question. The Chairman and CEO (CEO) of the operator, in place since 2010, resigned Wednesday, 24 November and will have to leave the company by the end of January 2022, announced the group in a communiqué sent in The evening, after a board of directors gathered urgently.
The enarque pays the decision made the same morning on appeal in the Tapie case, which dates back to 2008, when he was Christine Lagarde’s cabinet director at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. If the leader was released from the accusations of complicity of scam, he was sentenced to a one-year sentence of suspended prison and € 50,000 for “complicity of diversion of public funds”. The judgment of the Court of Appeal read by President, Sophie Clément, was particularly severe against Mr. Richard. It is accused of, in particular, to have acted in this issue in defense of the interests of Bernard Tapie, rather than those of the State, and to have had “the perfect conscience (…) of the abnormal character of his acts” .
“I received this decision with a lot of misunderstanding,” Thursday insured on France Inter, Mr. Richard. He denounces charges “without any basis” and intends to appeal in cassation. But could he stay at the head of Orange, a company whose state is still a shareholder at 23%, after having been sentenced for such facts? From the known justice decision, Bercy made known, unofficially, that he resigned, in accordance with the comments made by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno the Mayor, on BFM-TV, in 2018: “if there is A condemnation of Stéphane Richard at one point, he will immediately handle his mandate. “
Long live on the calendar
If the Shareholder State has only three seats on fifteen to the Board of Directors of Orange, its will has not been disputed on Wednesday night. “Stéphane arrived, he told the directors:” I am at your disposal, do what you want. “The question of his possible retention did not arise,” says a participant. “He was very dignified and classified in his way of apprehending things,” adds another. “He comes out of the head up,” says René Ollier, a member of South-PTT, who sits on the operator’s board of directors as a staff representative. His union had called a little earlier in the day of Wednesday at the immediate start of the leader.
You have 54.47% of this article to be read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.