This week, DONG Energy announced that its CEO, Anders Eldrup, was stepping down. At the time, the company did not state a reason for his departure, but now, DONG Energy's board of directors says it has ‘uncovered circumstances that have led to a unanimous board having lost confidence’ in Eldrup.
According to the company's board, these circumstances involve some ‘unusual employment and termination terms for a few key employees in DONG Energy’ – terms that the company says have been agreed to without the knowledge of its board.
It is against this background, the company says, that Eldrup has stepped down as CEO of DONG Energy.
"The decision for Anders Eldrup to step down has nothing to do with the examination by Rigsrevisionen (audit of the state accounts), but the board of directors has learned that Anders Eldrup has approved some unusual terms of employment for a few employees in DONG Energy," explains Fritz Schur, chairman of DONG Energy's board of directors.
"At the present time, the board of directors is working on the assumption that only a very small number of employees have these unusual terms of employment," he adds.
To establish the full facts, the board of directors has initiated an independent legal inquiry, whose findings are expected to be available in two weeks. The board was unanimous in its wish to hold off on providing further details until further clarification is available.
"We do not believe that Anders Eldrup has acted for personal gain in this case," Schur adds.
