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BP’s board on Tuesday announced the removal of Manifold due to “serious concerns” relating to governance standards, oversight and conduct.
Multiple media outlets reported that Manifold, the former boss of Irish building materials giant CRH, had acted aggressively with different colleagues during his nearly eight months at BP, citing anonymous sources.
In a scathing response issued on Thursday, Manifold said that while he does accept the board’s decision to remove him as chairman, he did not accept “that lies can be told about me, nor that anyone should be allowed to hide behind anonymity when commenting on my time at bp.”
Manifold said he felt that his priorities of simplifying the business, driving change on costs and strengthening the energy major’s balance sheet were not always shared by everyone, but “there is a considerable distance between driving an organisation with urgency and the characterisation of my conduct that is now being put about.”
He added that no one at the company had raised any issue about his conduct with him during his time as BP chairman.
Manifold signed off his letter by describing BP as a company “with a great future,” saying that CEO Meg O’Neill, Chief Financial Officer Kate Thomson and their executive colleagues were “among the finest people I have worked with.”
CNBC has contacted BP and is awaiting a response. A BP spokesperson referred CNBC to its statement published Tuesday when asked to respond to Manifold’s initial comments on Wednesday.
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