Founder of engineering firm sacked for 'gross misconduct'

Richard Gozdawa, the founder of Corac Group, a listed engineering company, was yesterday dismissed for "gross misconduct" following an investigation into his behaviour as a director of the business.

The company said that Mr Gozdawa, a scientist who set up Corac to commercialise technology that he had developed while a research fellow at Brunel University, had breached his obligations as an employee and director of the company.

Corac works on technology to compress gas, with applications including fizzy mineral water. Its technology is based on oil-free compressors. The group said its core business was unaffected by the sacking.

While Corac declined to spell out the exact nature of the misconduct, the group said Mr Gozdawa, the technical director, had broken the terms of his contract of employment, had breached his duty of "good faith" to the company, had breached his fiduciary duties as a director, and had fallen foul of London Stock Exchange regulations. Market talk suggested that Mr Gozdawa, who started the business in 1996, was not found to have broken rules regarding his financial or personal behaviour, but that the inquiry concerned an "operational matter" possibly to do with the company's intellectual property. He retains a holding of about 4 per cent in Corac.

Mr Gozdawa and another unnamed employee were suspended from work in May while the company investigated their conduct. There was no update yesterday on the fate of the other employee.

Corac was floated in June last year at 105p a share on the Alternative Investment Market but the stock has subsequently slumped, closing unchanged at 17.5p yesterday. The gas compression market is estimated to be worth £2bn a year.