Following allegations of sexual harassment, the chairman of the board of directors of the British supermarket chain Tesco will resign next month. Tesco said on Friday that 74-year-old John Allan would step down at its annual general meeting on June 16 after eight years at the helm of the company. The Guardian reported last week that Allan had grabbed a manager's buttocks during the 2022 Annual General Meeting.
In total, four women were preparing accusations of inappropriate and unprofessional behavior against Allan, the newspaper wrote. Tesco's interim president, Byron Grote, said on Friday that although the company has yet to receive a lawsuit, the allegations could "distract" Tesco from its real job.
Most accusations denied
Allan has been head of the supermarket giant's board of directors since 2015. In 2018 and 2019, he was also chairman of the CBI. Also at a CBI event in May 2019, Allan is said to have grabbed a woman's buttocks. According to the Guardian, he made "inappropriate remarks" about female CBI employees in 2019 and 2021. According to the newspaper, in some cases it was sexual harassment.
Allan had promptly denied most of the accusations; in one case, he apologized for his comments about a CBI employee in 2019.
Tesco said the company immediately commissioned an independent investigation into the allegations against Allan following the newspaper report. Interviews with witnesses and video footage of the 2022 AGM would not have revealed any evidence, as would the review of his entire tenure at Tesco.
Grote thanked Allan for his "considerable contribution" to the company. Tesco is "well advanced" in finding a successor, he added.