Bernard Looney has suddenly resigned from the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BP, the European major.
Murray Auchincloss, the Company’s CFO, will act as CEO on an interim basis.
From the company’s press statement announcing the exit, the resignation was a result of a 15+month long series of investigations conducted on Mr. Looney as a result of a number of whistleblowers’ allegation.
“In May 2022, the Board received and reviewed allegations, with the support of external legal counsel, relating to Mr. Looney’s conduct in respect of personal relationships with company colleagues”, the company sys in the statement. “The information came from an anonymous source.
“During that review, Mr Looney disclosed a small number of historical relationships with colleagues prior to becoming CEO. No breach of the Company’s Code of Conduct was found. However, the Board sought and was given assurances by Mr. Looney regarding disclosure of past personal relationships, as well as his future behaviour.
“Further allegations of a similar nature were received recently, and the Company immediately began investigating with the support of external legal counsel. That process is ongoing.
The British engineer who succeeded Bod Dudley as BP’s CEO in October 2019, eventually informed the company that he now accepted that he was not fully transparent in his previous disclosures, BP’s statement says. “He did not provide details of all relationships and accepts he was obligated to make more complete disclosure”.
BP says it has “strong values and the Board expects everyone at the Company to behave in accordance with those values. All leaders in particular are expected to act as role models and to exercise good judgement in a way that earns the trust of others”.
The company adds that “No decisions have yet been made in respect of any remuneration payments to be made to Mr Looney. In accordance with section 430(2B) of the Companies Act 2006, particulars of any such decisions will be disclosed at such times as, and to the extent that, any such decisions are made”.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 of 16 April 2014 (MAR) as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
