Former DSB managing director Søren Eriksen did not breach his contract and is not legally responsible for the problems the company encountered due to the relationship between DSB and its Swedish subsidiary DSBFirst during his tenure.
Those are the conclusions of an independent legal investigation instituted by DSB’s board after they fired the executive last March. DSB also has to pay Eriksen the four million kroner he said he was still owed after he was sacked. Eriksen was let go after DSB's 2010 annual report triggered an administrative review of the troubled relationship between DSB and DSBFirst.
The study by the law firm Bruun and Hjejle did not completely absolve the former executive of blame in DSB’s downtown, however. Investigators said that Eriksen's principal error was failing to report ongoing financial problems with DSBFirst to the board in a timely manner.
Anders Drejer, a professor at the Aalborg Institute of Economics and Management said the investigation has essentially cleared Eriksen of any wrongdoing.
”They came up with nothing serious after a year-long investigation,” Drejer told Jyllands-Posten.
Drejer still believes that DSB was justified in firing Eriksen.
“If a company loses faith in its chief executive, they have to let him go,” he said.
Eriksen was recently appointed managing director of Tele Greenland. He will take over that post this summer. The Tele Greenland board said they chose Eriksen due to his excellent track record at DSB
"While at DSB, Soren Eriksen significantly improved customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, reputation and financial performance,” said Tele Greenland chairperson Agner N.Mark.
