Biz People

Zietz to stay put as Puma CEO

Puma AG, the German sporting-goods maker controlled by PPR SA, extended its contract with Chief Executive Officer Jochen Zeitz ahead of schedule until 2012.

The company's supervisory board also appointed Melody Harris-Jensbach, 46, as deputy chief executive officer to replace Martin Gaensler, according to an e-mailed statement yesterday.

Olis wants to get out of jail

Former Dynegy Inc tax executive Jamie Olis (right), serving six years in prison for fraud, asked to be freed, arguing he was wrongfully convicted because the government prevented him from financing a proper defense.

"Olis did not receive a fair trial because of misconduct by the prosecution," Olis' lawyer John O'Quinn said yesterday in a statement. "This prosecutorial misconduct was recently discovered after the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of Olis had already occurred."

US prosecutors deprived Olis, 41, of his constitutional rights by blocking defense funding from Houston-based Dynegy, Olis' lawyers argued in court papers filed on October 5 in Houston federal court before US District Judge Sim Lake.

A similar argument resulted in a judge's dismissal in July of charges against 13 former executives from KPMG LLP. The ruling by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in New York, part of the largest criminal tax-shelter prosecution in US history, followed his decision that prosecutors violated the right to counsel for many of the former executives by pressuring New York- based KPMG not to pay their legal bills.

Olis' original sentence of 24 years was overturned on appeal as too harsh. Lake imposed the lower sentence in September 2006. The 24-year term was the longest white-collar fraud sentence on record at the time. O'Quinn declined to comment.

Harris plans company buyout

Carpetright Plc, the United Kingdom's largest carpet retailer, received a bid from Chairman Philip Harris valuing the company at 849 million pounds.

Harris and senior managers offered 1,250 pence per share in cash for the 74 percent of the shares they don't already own, the Rainham, England-based company said yesterday. That's 7.7 percent more than Monday's closing price.

Harris is also offering investors untraded stock in lieu of cash.

The bid is subject to approval from independent directors, the company said. In June, Carpetright authorized Harris to look into taking the company private, triggering the stock's biggest jump since trading began in 1993.

The shares had tumbled earlier in the year after higher UK interest rates weighed on consumer spending.

The company was founded in 1988 by Harris, who is also chief executive officer, and now has about 495 UK and Irish stores and about 100 more in Europe. Harris owns 23.4 percent of Carpetright.

(China Daily 10/10/2007 page16)