NVC Lighting chief Wu Changjiang fights dismissal as board row deepens
Wu Changjiang refuses to accept directors' move to oust him from lighting product maker
A boardroom tussle at NVC Lighting Holding, one of the mainland's largest lighting product makers, has deepened as chief executive Wu Changjiang digs in to fight his ouster from the post.
NVC had announced on August 8 that the board voted to dismiss Wu as chief executive and install Wang Donglei as interim chief executive. But in a filing to the stock exchange on Thursday night, NVC said Wu had refused to accept the board's vote.
Mr Wu’s actions are having an adverse effect on the company
In addition to acting to remove Wu, the board at the August 8 meeting dismissed three vice-presidents: Wu's brother Wu Changyong, Mu Yu and Wang Minghua.
The latest ructions in the boardroom have played out after disputes dating to 2012. Wu Changjiang had been appointed chief executive under a three-year contract in January last year, after stepping down as chairman and chief executive in May 2012 amid an acrimonious shareholders' row related to strikes at NVC's factories in Chongqing and Huizhou, in Guangdong, that year.
NVC said in its filing: "Mr Wu has unreasonably and without legal basis refused to comply with the board's resolution, and to relinquish his position as chief executive officer. Mr Wu's continuing actions are having an adverse effect on the company."
It said the board was "taking urgent steps to minimise the effect of his actions and to assume effective and full control of the company's operations as soon as possible".
Wang Donglei said yesterday that Wu was the only board member to vote against his dismissal. Wang played a tape recording purported to be of Wu saying: "I'm telling everybody, if the board pushes this resolution, I will not abide by it at all."