A former chief executive of one of the world’s biggest oil companies is feeling the pinch after a series of inappropriate relationships with subordinates cost him more than £32 million — or $55.5 million Canadian 'loonies.'British oil major BP announced on Wednesday former CEO Bernard Looney would receive no further salary or benefits after he was dismissed “without notice” on December 13.That includes nearly £25 million in unvested stock options from 2021 to 2025 and the repayment of £420,000 in bonuses. That’s on top of the $16 million in salary he would have earned. .Looney stepped down as CEO and gave 12-months notice to retire from the company in September after he was found to have misled the company’s board of directors over a series of personal relationships with colleagues. But that was effectively shortened by more than nine months with Tuesday’s firings.At the time, he was replaced by former Calgarian Murray Auchincloss in the head role. The scandal has hit the company’s shares, which are down more than 9% since the shift occurred."Following careful consideration, the board has concluded that, in providing inaccurate and incomplete assurances in July 2022, Mr. Looney knowingly misled the board," BP said in a statement on Wednesday.The company’s code of conduct specifies that having an “intimate relationship with someone whose pay, advancement or management” can be manipulated or influenced is a conflict of interest that needs to be disclosed.It came after similar allegations in May of 2022 were found to have not breached the company’s code..In his own counter-statement, Looney said he was “disappointed with the way this situation has been handled.”Looney is just the latest in a wave of corporate misconduct that has seen senior executives canned and dismissed without pay. In 2021, former McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook was forced to repay US$105 million in stock options and cash to settle lawsuits over alleged affairs.Likewise, CNN president Jeff Zuckerberg was forced to quit the company in February over an inappropriate relationship.
