The first manufacturer in the world of computers, the U.S. Hewlett-Packard (HP), is found again in the heart of a scandal with the resignation of its CEO Mark Hurd for sexual harassment after a spying case in its board of directors, among others.

"CEO Mark Hurd has agreed with the board of directors to resign with immediate effect," the group said Friday. A decision was taken after "an investigation" internal "facts and circumstances surrounding sexual harassment charges against Hurd and HP," the statement added. During a conference call, the legal director Mike Holston said that "several weeks ago, a former employee of a subcontractor of HP has accused Mark of having sexually harassed while working in part of marketing activities "of the group. He added that investigations had revealed that Mr. Hurd had a "close personal relationship with an employee of a supplier who had been hired by" its services, while he had "never made public the nature of this relationship.
The survey revealed many examples where that person "has received compensation or reimbursement of expenses that were not expenses related to a legitimate activity" group and Mr Hurd presented through "repeated requests for reimbursements inaccurate seeking to conceal the nature of his relationship with this person, "said Mr. Holston. The board of directors "felt that the conduct of Mark demonstrated a profound lack of ruling," concluded Mr. Holson.

Mr. Hurd will be replaced by Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak, 51, during the search for a new CEO. Ms. Lesjak at HP for 24 years, not seeking the permanent CEO position, and a search committee has been created for this purpose within the board. In an attempt to reassure the group released at the same time the preliminary results for its third quarter offset, while the final results are expected on August 19. The group posted earnings per share $ 1.08 excluding special items, a penny better than expected, and a turnover up 11% to $ 30.7 billion, also better than expected, while raising its forecast for the year 2010.
Ms. Lesjak said during a conference call that she had never been more "confident" in the group as it is "extremely well positioned against its competitors. The strategy for HP, which employs 300,000 people, "will continue," she promised, saying that while "Mark was a good leader is the organization that supports" that took the initiative. The action did not dropped below 9.71% to 41.60 dollars in electronic trading session out, shaken by the surprise resignation.

HP sees once again caught up in scandal while Mark Hurd himself became CEO, replacing Patricia Dunn, forced to step down by a spy scandal in the board of directors. Ms. Dunn had resigned in January 2007, replaced by the CEO Mark Hurd, who thus became the same time Chairman of the Board. She was convicted of having made use of private detectives in 2005, who used false identities to obtain phone records of conversations between board members and journalists.

More recently, in April, HP found itself under investigation for corruption by Germany and Russia.

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