3 executives step down from power company's parent

The investigation began after the controller refused to sign the annual report.
DAYTON (AP) -- Three top executives of DPL Inc. have stepped down days after a report critical of top management was made public.
The company's board of directors announced Sunday the retirement of President and Chief Executive Stephen Koziar Jr. and the resignations of Chairman Peter Forster and Caroline Muhlenkamp, interim chief financial officer, all effective immediately.
Company spokesman Fred Spar declined to say Sunday whether the retirement and resignations were prompted by circumstances surrounding the report.
DPL is the parent company of Dayton Power and Light Co., which serves about 500,000 customers in western Ohio. DPL had 2003 sales of $1.19 billion. DPL's audit committee hired Cincinnati law firm Taft, Stettinius & amp; Hollister on March 17 to investigate concerns raised in a memo by DPL Controller Daniel Thobe after he declined to sign off on DPL's 2003 annual report.
The investigators' report, first obtained last week by the Dayton Daily News, said DPL should have reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission a business deal between DPL and a private company owned by Forster and Muhlenkamp that ensured the pair would continue to be paid in the event DPL was sold.
Forster has said the DPL board approved the business deal and that he doesn't think it was necessary to disclose it to the SEC, although he doesn't oppose that.
The report also questioned the deleting of files from Forster's personal laptop computer and the personal use of corporate aircraft by Forster, Muhlenkamp and Koziar.