This text was not translated, because it is originally in English
The Renault electric vehicle spy scandal has claimed its first high profile victim as its chief operating officer, Patrick Pelata quits. Effectively the 55-year old Pelata was Carlos Ghosns number two, running Renault on a day-to-day basis.

The scandal which accused three employees at the heart of Renaults EV strategy, Michel Balthazard, Bertrand Rochette and Matthieu Tenenbaum of passing highly sensitive commercial information to a third party has been proven to be unfounded. Renault has admitted that it was tricked into paying money for false information which led to the trios dismissal.

Although Ghosn had rejected Pelatas first offer to resign, Ghosn was coming under increasing pressure from the French Government, which has a 15 percent stake in Renault, to make a sacrifice.

Pelata will continue running Renault on a daily basis for the foreseeable before transferring to another role within the broader Renault-Nissan conglomerate.

A trio of executives from Renaults internal security department are also expected to go.