Charles leaves Saatchi & Saatchi

Charles Saatchi yesterday left Saatchi & Saatchi, saying that his position as honorary president had become intolerable at the advertising agency he helped to found 25 years ago. His departure leaves only the ampersand in the Saatchi & Saatchi corporate name following the recent ousting of Maurice Saatchi, his brother and co-founder.

The departure, which could lead to yet more legal action, with Charles Saatchi claiming he had in effect been constructively dismissed, was one of several significant events at the company yesterday.

A spokesman said the company had started to investigate a $50,000 (£32,000) payment made last year to David Burnside Associates, the consultancy company headed by the former communications director of British Airways.

The company also confirmed that the Stock Exchange was investigating share dealings allegedly carried out in the name of Maurice Saatchi when he was a director. A spokesman for Maurice Saatchi maintains that the 680,000 shares in dispute were owned by his brother, who sold them after he ceased being a director.

Saatchi & Saatchi has also informed the Stock Exchange that it was investigating whether Maurice Saatchi passed on confidential company information in January 1994 to Ivan Fallon, then deputy editor of The Sunday Times and now living in South Africa. The memo is said to inform Mr Fallon that the company's management accounts showed operating profits were running £20m below budget.

Mr Fallon said yesterday that he could not recall receiving a memo from Maurice Saatchi. "Maurice did ring me about it last week. He read me the memo, but I had no memory of seeing it."

He added: "It [the memo] followed a dinner we had which became quite heated. My own belief is that what happened was he wrote the memo and decided against sending it. Maurice was always very careful about disclosure. There were chairmen who trusted you and gave you the whole story. But getting a story out of him was like drawing teeth, and it would be quite out of character."

Maurice Saatchi's expenses as chairman have also been disclosed. The company said the total cost in 1993 was £1.035m, including £33,000 for a launch party for the film Damage, based on the book written by Maurice Saatchi's wife, Josephine Hart.

"The company started to get to grips with his expenses last year," the company spokesman said. His £722,000 of salary and other costs in 1994 included spending a reputed £5,600 on flowers, £87,000 on travel, meals and accommodation and £46,000 on entertainment.

On the David Burnside issue, the advertising agency said that the invoice was originally submitted to its UK office but was ultimately paid through Saatchi & Saatchi North America.

The invoice, the spokesman for Saatchi & Saatchi said, covered "general public relations and consultancy advice to the chairman's office including UK/US national press relations" for the period from 1 April to 30 September. Mr Burnside was unavailable for comment yesterday, and questions about the invoice put to one of his colleagues went unanswered. Maurice Saatchi was chairman of the company at that time, and Bill Muirhead, who resigned a month ago, was head of the North American operations.

A spokesman for Maurice Saatchi yesterday disputed the information that was being released by Saatchi & Saatchi. In particular he strongly countered revelations about his expenses

"The launch party was a charity premier night paid for by Saatchi & Saatchi, countersigned by Charles Scott," he said. Mr Scott has since become chief executive, succeeding Robert Louis-Dreyfus.