EasyJet defends chairman in wake of banking scandal
EasyJet is calling on shareholders to rally round chairman Sir Mike Rake following the latest attempt by founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou to oust him from his post.
Haji-Ioannou, who owns 37% of the airline, has called on Rake to step down in the wake of the Barclays Libor-fixing scandal.
In an interview with The Guardian, Haji-Ioannou accused Rake of a "deep conflict of interest" and claimed he was "entrenched in the disgraced City establishment".
Rake was promoted to deputy chairman of Barclays following the sudden resignation of CEO Bob Diamond, leaving Haji-Ioannou claiming that his workload is too great to also chair easyJet.
There is speculation in the City that Rake will succeed Barclays chairman Marcus Aigus, who resigned from Barclays on Monday but was immediately reappointed to the role of executive chairman yesterday.
Haji-Ioannou said: "I would suggest these unfortunate events at Barclays offer him the perfect opportunity to stand down from the easyJet chair so we can appoint someone who will be able to devote more time to the protection of shareholder value."
Haji-Ioannou has accused Rake, who is also chairman of BT, of spreading himself too thinly in the past.
However, Rake defeated an attempt by Haji-Ioannou and his family to vote him off the easyJet board in January and the airline’s Board said it would be writing to shareholders shortly to recommend they support Rake once again.
It said: "The Board confirms that it has received a request from easyGroup asking it to convene an extraordinary general meeting at which a resolution would be tabled to vote on the removal of Sir Mike Rake as director and Chairman of easyJet PLC.
"The Board is disappointed that easyGroup has taken this step and will write to shareholders in due course recommending that they vote against this resolution."
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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