PARIS (Reuters) - Henri Proglio gave up his claim on the chairmanship of French defense group Thales on Tuesday, prompting the country's finance ministry to deny his accusation of a smear campaign against him over his Russian business interests.
"I have had enough of suspicion, of humiliation," Proglio said in an interview with Le Monde newspaper that appeared to lay bare a feud between one of the country's best-known company bosses and Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron.
"Stop taking me for a puppet, a spy, a greedy man, a traitor," the former head of French state power utility EDF, now also on the board of Russian nuclear group Rosatom, told the newspaper.
"For weeks now I have been sullied by a campaign fed by Bercy," he said in reference to the ministry's Paris headquarters.
Macron responded quickly, denying having run a campaign against the 65-year-old, whose decision comes just a day ahead of an annual shareholder meeting that was due to confirm him in the THALES (HO.PA)chairmanship role.
Thales is a major contractor for Dassault Aviation's Rafale jets, and for the Mistral helicopter carriers whose delivery to Russia France has delayed due to its part in the Ukraine crisis.
Proposed for the Thales chairmanship by the Dassault family, which along with the French government controls the company, Proglio is seen as close to former President Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right UMP Party.
Proglio was kept in his role as head of EDF when President Francois Hollande took power in 2012, however, and is seen as having allies in the ruling Socialist Party as well.
In the interview, Proglio said concerns about his Russian interests were a ruse to get him out of the job.
"This whole saga is just an excuse... Behind all this is an attempt to bring down a man for political reasons... I defy all attempts to pigeonhole me politically. I am above all a businessman."
(Reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey and Andrew Callus; Editing by James Regan)