Former COO Pelata to Leave Renault

Renault SA says Patrick Pelata, who stepped down as its chief operating officer in April 2011 after taking the blame for a bungled corporate espionage investigation, will leave the company on Aug. 16.

Pelata will join a technology company in California, Bloomberg News reports, citing an unidentified source. Since his demotion, Pelata has been a strategy advisor to Renault's alliance with Nissan Motor Co. He tells Bloomberg news he is leaving because the new job doesn't give him the authority to implement the strategies he helps to develop.

Early last year Renault fired three executives suspected of selling secrets about the company's electric vehicle program. Renault later discovered the allegations were false and reinstated the former employees. The company said it was the victim of a hoax.