VINCI, the world’s biggest construction group, was in turmoil yesterday after its chairman denied the company’s announcement that he had resigned in a row over his multimillion-euro package of pay, pension and perks.

Antoine Zacharias’s denial followed reports that he could lose stock options worth up to €250 million (£171 million) if he was deemed to have left the French company voluntarily.

M Zacharias has also started legal action over an anonymous letter sent to directors last year denouncing his salary of €4.3 million, his €55 million pension deal and his €50 million pied-à-terre in Paris.

In the latest twist in a saga that has stunned the French business community, M Zacharias says that Vinci had “shamefully” misrepresented the outcome of a crucial board meeting this month.

According to the official minutes, he resigned after failing to force the dismissal of Xavier Huillard, the company’s chief executive, who had accused him of “growing unreasonably rich on Vinci’s back”. The minutes continue: “He gets up and leaves the room.” Yves-Thibault de Silguy, formerly managing director of Suez, the French utility, was appointed chairman in his place.

M Zacharias’s lawyer, Maître Olivier Schnerb, has written to Vinci contesting this account. He claims that M Zacharias said that he would quit only on condition that M Huillard was dismissed and, as M Huillard was maintained in his post, the resignation was “null and void”.

M Zacharias, 67, is seeking a legal ruling confirming his position as chairman.

According to Le Figaro, the newspaper, the move comes against the background of M Zacharias’s bitter feud with M Huillard, whom he appointed to replace him as chief executive in January. M Zacharias wants Vinci’s board to dismiss M Huillard to validate his own resignation, Le Figaro said.

Other reports pointed out that if M Zacharias’s resignation was deemed “null and void”, Vinci would have to fire him — in which case, he could claim his stock options.

The group, which expects worldwide sales of €26 billion this year and employs 2,700 people in the UK, has been plunged into chaos by a row that began when M Huillard objected to M Zacharias’s €8 million bonus. In a letter to directors, M Huillard said that the chairman had “abused” the company through his salary, which had risen by 20 per cent last year, and his pied-à-terre, which was said to be so opulent that executives were embarrassed to be seen in it. M Huillard, 51, said that M Zacharias was “now only interested in money” and was considering a move to Switzerland to reduce a tax bill that could reach €100 million.

In a statement last night, Vinci’s board said that there was “no doubt about the reality of Antoine Zacharias’s resignation and any other interpretation is pure fantasy”.

THE WORDS UNDER DISPUTE

The minutes state:
“M Zacharias proposes that the board dismiss M Huillard as chief executive. This proposition is rejected, with nine people opposing it. M Zacharias indicates that in these circumstances he resigns as chairman and director of Vinci. He gets up and leaves the room”

Maître Olivier Schnerb, M Zacharias’s lawyer, says:
“The words ‘in these circumstances’ were shamefully added when the minutes of the meeting were written. They are formally contested by the person who is supposed to have spoken them”