The chairman of Tesco, John Allen, resigned from the company following allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

The largest retailer in the United Kingdom, Tesco, announced that its chairman, John Allan, would resign at the group’s annual shareholders meeting the following month because allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him could distract from his duties. Three of the four accusations made against Mr. Allan, who is also a former president of the CBI business lobby group, have been vehemently refuted.

Since 2015, Allan, one of the most well-known business figures in Britain, has served as Tesco’s chairman.

The supermarket group announced on Friday that his term as chairman would, in any case, be coming to an end soon. A succession planning process was already underway and was anticipated to be completed soon.

Senior independent director Byron Grote will serve as interim chairman while a replacement is found and will preside over Tesco’s annual general meeting on June 16.

Four women have accused Allan of acting inappropriately, according to a report in the Guardian newspaper from earlier this month.

Three of the allegations are related to Allan’s time at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), where he served as president from 2018 to 2020, and one is related to his behaviour at Tesco.

According to Tesco, Allan vehemently refutes three of these accusations, and for the fourth, he unconditionally apologises for the remark he made.

Even though there have been no complaints about John’s behaviour or findings of wrongdoing, Grote warned that these accusations could cause Tesco to lose focus.

He thanked Allan for his “valuable contribution” to Tesco and remarked that he had successfully guided the board through the company’s turnaround and the COVID-19 pandemic while assisting in the company’s recovery.