The former chief executive of Group Lotus, Dany Bahar, has launched an unfair dismissal claim for £6.7m against the company.
Group Lotus is owned by DRB Hicom, a Malaysian company. Speaking from Kuala Lumpur, they stated they had received the claim and were planning to defend it.
In a statement the company said: “Dany Bahar was dismissed after an investigation into his stewardship of Lotus.
“We believe we have acted properly at all times.
“DRB-Hicom and Lotus will vigorously oppose and/or defend the claim by Bahar, including filing counter-claims against Bahar.”
The former chief executive, Mr Bahar, 40, was suspended in May for unspecified accusations, though many believe this was due to his expenses claims. He was eventually sacked in June.
He was originally recruited from Ferrari in 2009 where he held the position of vice president, with a brief to turn around the fortunes of the sports car maker after it lost ground to Porsche and Ferrari.
The car maker was bought by Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, a billionaire who controls DRB, Lotus’ current owner.
In addition to Lotus, the company also has a controlling stake in Proton, the former state owned Malaysian car company. Proton had previously bought a controlling stake in Lotus in 2006.
In 2010 Mr Bahar unveiled a plan to sell Lotus cars into emerging markets such as China, and to launch new models such as the Esprit. He said by 2014 Lotus would break even.
Mr Bahar’s claim is for loss of earnings and unfair dismissal.
