It was announced that the decision to fire Bahar and several other executives was based on the results of an investigation that looked into possible misconduct, though no official reason was ever given for their ousting.
Less than two months later Bahar retaliated with a $10 million wrongful dismissal suit that claimed the executives, including himself, were fired in order to avoid contractual payments in the event that Lotus was sold.
Now Lotus is suing Bahar for approximately $4 million for, according to court filings obtained by Bloomberg, unauthorized expenses and overpaid salary and bonuses. Some of the expenses are said to include a chauffeur, helicopter travel and 10 watches.
Specific complaints made in Lotus’ court filings was a $1.6 million expense for renting and renovating two private properties and another expense of almost $2 million for travel.
The filings also mention damaging statements made to the media, which is likely to be the bizarre Facebook rant made by Lotus in April of this year.
Since taking control of Lotus at the start of this year, DRB-Hicom has set about ousting Bahar and his overly ambitious plan for a six-model lineup, injecting some funds into the company, and reaffirming its commitment to future products, the first of which will be the new Esprit supercar.
Stay tuned for an update.
