The State being the largest shareholder of Orange, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, warned in 2018 that in case of conviction, Stéphane Richard would have to hand over his mandate.

"I accept it perfectly", commented Mr. Richard on France Inter. "It is obvious that from the moment a decision like this one intervened, I could not remain in post, I absolutely never disputed that, ”he added.

After a general acquittal in July 2019, the court of appeal ruled on Wednesday that the arbitration, which had awarded 403 million euros to Bernard Tapie and has since been canceled in civil proceedings, was indeed "fraudulent" in that it was biased towards the interests of the businessman.

Stéphane Richard, 60, who was at the time chief of staff to the Minister of the Economy Christine Lagarde, was found guilty of complicity in the misappropriation of public property.

Stéphane Richard said he received this decision with "a lot of misunderstanding".

"We are always astonished that a team of professional judges can take a decision radically opposed to another team of professional judges," he said.

The CEO of Orange will step down on January 31 at the latest, the group said.

His term initially ended in mid-2022.

The conditions of his departure were arranged in such a way as to attenuate the "shock created in the company", explained Mr. Richard.

He had previously expressed the "personal wish" to remain chairman of the group at the end of his third term, by relinquishing the function of managing director.

Stéphane Richard, a graduate of HEC and ENA, joined the Orange group in September 2009. He became CEO in June 2010, and finally CEO in February 2011.

Present in 26 countries around the world, the Orange group, which employs more than 140,000 people, including more than 80,000 in France, achieved a turnover of 42.27 billion euros in 2020.

© 2021 AFP