Sacked Lotus CEO Dany Bahar settles out of court

Dany-Bahar

Ex-Lotus CEO Dany Bahar has settled a claim for unfair dismissal with Lotus owner DRB-Hicom a month before the case was scheduled to go to court.

DRB-Hicom announced on Bursa Malaysia last week that “the parties involved in the legal suit have signed a Settlement Agreement and Release on 14 May 2014 and have agreed to withdraw their claims against each other.

“The above arrangement is not expected to have any major impact on the financial or operations of the Group,” the statement added.

Bahar was suspended in May 2012 after a complaint regarding his conduct and investigations led to him being sacked the following month. The 43-year old then filed a 6.7-million pound (RM36 million) claim against Lotus and DRB-Hicom for wrongful termination.

Dany Bahar and Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin

DRB-Hicom apparently wasn’t happy about the way Bahar was using company moneyThe Mail Online reported at the time that he was found to have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on his rented home, and more than a million pounds on private aircraft to fly him to Formula One races and other global events.

Bahar’s friends defended him by saying that he insisted the spending was part of his employment contract, which was agreed with Proton.

Architect of an ambitious five-year plan at Group Lotus, Bahar joined the Hethel-based company as CEO in 2009 from Ferrari, where he was a senior vice president. Prior to that, Bahar worked at Red Bull GmbH and Fritz Kaiser Group.

Following Bahar’s sacking, Aslam Farikullah was appointed to run Lotus as chief operating officer, and earlier this month, Jean-Marc Gales was announced as the company’s new CEO.

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Jonathan James Tan

While most dream of the future, Jonathan Tan dreams of the past, although he's never been there. Fantasises much too often about cruising down Treacher Road (Jalan Sultan Ismail) in a Triumph Stag that actually works, and hopes this stint here will snap him back to present reality.

 

Comments

  • abuya12345 on May 23, 2014 at 7:22 pm

    “The above arrangement is not expected to have any major impact on the financial or operations of the Group,” the statement added.”

    So maknanya…. kena bayarlah kan kat Bahar. Kalau sebut major impact, it means kalau profit after tax is 50 million, 5 million will not be major impact to financial.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 3
  • Mozilla Chrome on May 23, 2014 at 7:42 pm

    Do you want a reason why you have to pay GST?

    This is a reason why you have to pay GST.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 35 Thumb down 19
    • dolly on May 24, 2014 at 9:59 am

      Since when you become so stupid?..since birth?…so other countries with GST, what is the reason?..save something also?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 22 Thumb down 34
    • bisakeris (Member) on May 24, 2014 at 3:11 pm

      what??? gst??? LOL!!!!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 7
    • DRB Hicom is not government company, but private lah, you stupid!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 2
  • thebugbud on May 23, 2014 at 7:56 pm

    Since there’s not financial impact to proton, he must have a damn good bl..w jxb of a out of court settlement

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 0
  • 6 million gbp = 36k rm? Lol

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 6
  • Dewata on May 23, 2014 at 9:07 pm

    6,000,000.00 GBP = 32,455,515.70 MYR

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 1
  • Motorhead (Member) on May 23, 2014 at 9:28 pm

    Who’s the butthurt now? Me???.. hahaha.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 2
    • tokmoh (Member) on May 24, 2014 at 11:14 am

      Well, don’t we just love seeing how “successful” Lotus now is, now that those racists got rid of this Turk?

      He had a vision, an interesting one worth risking.

      And what, the merits of his 5 models plan was demerit because he leads a lavish lifestyle? Pot calling the kettle black, macais dunno shit how much more lavish those cronies are living. And non stop racist hatred simply because Bahar is a Turk wasting Lotus’/Proton’s/taxpayers’ money.

      So, cut off the Turk, and Lotus will be successful, super duper making profit. Riiiiiight? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 9
      • racefan on May 25, 2014 at 10:22 am

        Your comment indicates clearly you’re not from the industry and don’t know what’s going on

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 1
        • tokmoh (Member) on May 25, 2014 at 5:52 pm

          Hah, typical macai response, personal attack.

          So tell me how successful Lotus is now?

          Tell me why the worldwide media was euphoric with Bahar’s 5 model prototypes?

          And then now what? Have we seen any all-new model? None.

          Have we seen their sales pick up? Maybe in China, but elsewhere, who wanna buy old models when rivals are offering newer, improved cars?

          Doesn’t need a man from the industry to know Lotus is in deepshit now, keep wasting taxpayers’ money.

          Or u gonna tell me Lotus is just starting, like Dr M said proton is just starting? After all these years?

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 7
  • Peter on May 24, 2014 at 1:44 am

    Talk abt good governance, proton shouldn’t let this happen (this amount of cash should be approved by board); not sue after it happened. This’s how most glc is managed in M’sia. There’re better example: MAS!
    Mas sued its ex-CEO for abusing fund … how’s the case goes now?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
  • matrxe on May 24, 2014 at 10:48 am

    He may be a pompous S.O.B. But he brought Lotus in the spot light faster than anyone. I dunno how much it cost Lotus. But if he contributed anything to Lotus, its marketing. You at least gotta give him credit for that.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 2
  • wow hes from ferrari.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
    • racefan on May 25, 2014 at 10:21 am

      Actually, Ferrari asked him to leave. As did Red Bull. Proton was too blind to see the writing on the wall.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 0
  • Lotus and proton is like umno

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 12 Thumb down 6
  • bisakeris (Member) on May 24, 2014 at 3:14 pm

    the dap mca racist gelak saja..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 7
  • Semi-Value (Member) on May 24, 2014 at 10:52 pm

    INI TAK BERJAYA LA

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • kangkong on May 25, 2014 at 5:55 am

    Ask him to join UMNO. Don’t talk about been questioned about rent private jet. He can even buy a private jet without questioned.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 2
 

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