The chief executive of Orange, the French telecommunications group, risks dismissal after being convicted in connection with a fraudulent 403-million-euro state payout to a controversial tycoon, reports The Times.
Stéphane Richard, 60, said that he placed “my mandate within the hands of Orange’s board of directors” who are to meet within hours to decide his fate after his conviction for aiding and abetting in the misuse of public funds.
Richard, who was fined 50,000 euros and given a one-year suspended prison sentence, said the verdict of Paris appeal court was incomprehensible and unjust and laid the blame for his woes at the feet of Christine Lagarde, 65, president of the European Central Bank. A suspended sentence means he will go to prison only if he commits another offence.
Despite his announcement that he would appeal to the Cour de Cassation, France’s highest court, commentators said his job was on the line given that Bruno Le Maire, 52, the economy minister, has said that the heads of companies partially or wholly owned by the state cannot stay on with a criminal conviction. The French state retains a 23 per cent stake in Orange.