PARIS, April 29 (Reuters) - French carmaker Renault held a pre-dismissal hearing with a representative of an ex-security executive accused of fraud in a case that sparked an industrial espionage probe, a spokesman said on Friday.
The spokesman was speaking on the sidelines of Renault's annual shareholders' meeting, at which it faced shareholders for the first time since the industrial spying-turned fraud fiasco that forced its chief operating officer to quit.
Renault fired three executives in January, saying its high-profile electric vehicle project had been targeted by an international spy network, but later had to admit it was tricked, the men did nothing wrong and there was no spying.
The former security manager, Dominique Gevrey, is in custody and under investigation for fraud.
Under French law, Renault has to wait 48 hours after the pre-dismissal hearing before it can fire Gevrey.
Renault on Thursday said it had finalised an agreement to compensate the three executives it wrongly fired. One of the three, Matthieu Tenenbaum, will rejoin the company on May 2, Renault said, while the other two have declined offers of reinstatement.
Renault Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn, who is also CEO of Renault's Japanese alliance partner Nissan Motor, told the shareholder meeting he was delighted an agreement had been reached. (Reporting by Helen Massy-Beresford and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by David Holmes)