Renault's Pelata to Throw on the Grenade to Protect Ghosn

Renault's spy saga kept the front page of newspapers for week and rumors have emerged that the allegations may be unfounded. And although everybody expected to see CEO Carlos Ghosn take the blame for what happened, it seems like Chief Operating Office Patrick Pelata will be the one responsible for the whole case. Three top executives have been fired in January when Renault talked for the first time about industrial espionage and Pelata is ready to face the consequences.

France's Economy Minister Christine Lagarde has already revealed that the French manufacturer might have to pay for what happened, and Pelata was the first to react. This would be accepted "up to the highest level of the company, that is to say up to myself," he said according to an Automotive News report.

Ghosn on the other hand emphasized that what Renault did when firing the three executives and starting the whole investigation was absolutely justified.

"When a company is facing a problem, it always takes a stance and takes a decision, but at the same time it wants to make sure of what it can learn from it, what enhancements it can make. Obviously I cannot tell you more because we are waiting for French justice to take a position," he explained.

The strangest thing is that even people close to French president Nicolas Sarkozy talked on the espionage saga, hinting that the whole case is true and pointing that Chinese entities might be behind the entire story.

"There are in effect several sources that are typically thought to be serious who consider that a Chinese buyer is in fact behind this operation," said Carayon, a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party, on France-Info radio.