Bahar sues Lotus for £6.7m

28/08/2012

Former Group Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar has served the new parent company with a £6.7m High Court action.

Bahar, who was recruited to turn around the fortunes of the company in 2009 and introduced a raft of schemes, many of them highly dubious in terms of whether they would succeed, was sacked in June, months after Proton sold Group Lotus to Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom.

Now, Bahar, who is claiming wrongful dismissal, is claiming £6.7m from DRB-Hicom in addition to an estimated 5 per cent of shares of equivalent value on the sale of Lotus Group or listing on any stock exchange.

In a statement issued at the weekend, Aslam Farikullah, who was brought in by DRB-Hicom to replace Bahar, said: "Dany Bahar was dismissed after a comprehensive investigation into his stewardship of Lotus. Lotus will vigorously oppose any claim made by Mr Bahar and believes it has acted properly at all times."

With debts of around £200m some are questioning whether Bahar will want a 5 per cent share of the company's liabilities.