Henri Proglio refuses to take up Thales chairmanship

Henri Proglio has refused to take upthe chairmanship of defence electronics group Thales as part of an escalating battle with the French government over his Russian business interests.

The former chief executive of nuclear power generator EDF, and one of France's leading business figures, accused the finance ministry of targeting him in a smear campaign.

"For weeks now I have been sullied by a campaign fed by [the finance ministry]," he said in an interview with French daily Le Monde, where he announced he would not be seeking the role at Thales's annual general meeting on Wednesday.

"I have had enough of suspicion, of humiliation . . . Stop taking me for a puppet, a spy, a greedy man, a traitor."

Mr Proglio, 65, is seen as close to Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president and head of the centre-right UMP party.

He was appointed EDF chief executive by Mr Sarkozy in 2009, but last year was ousted from this role by Francois Hollande's socialist government.

He was then proposed as chairman of Thales by the Dassault family, which along with the French government controls the group.

Emmanuel Macron, the economy minister, moved quickly to deny that the government had run a campaign against Mr Proglio, saying his refusal to take the chairmanship at Thales was "his own decision".

But according to people close to the government, the finance ministry had in recent weeks made it clear to Mr Proglio that his Russian business interests did represent a "conflict of interest".

He was told he would have to give up his role as advisor to Russian nuclear group Rosatom.

Mr Proglio, a former head of water and waste group Veolia, said the Russian question was just an excuse for the socialist government to get him out of the Thales chairmanship.

"This whole saga is just an excuse . . . Behind all this is an attempt to bring down a man for political reasons . . . I defy all attempts to pigeonhole me politically. I am above all a businessman."

Thales, which is 25 per cent owned by Dassault Aviation and 27 per cent by the government, is a major contractor for the aerospace company's Rafale jets and therefore seen as strategically important to the French state.

"This is a problem of ethics and conflict of interest," said Mr Macron on Tuesday. "I have not fed a campaign [against Mr Proglio], I have respect for the man who was the head of Veolia and EDF."

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