A person close to the situation said yesterday that the company had also dismissed many executives.

It had already dismissed 14 top executives and abandoned 10 projects.

The board yesterday also dismissed two senior executives whose activities are at the heart of the scandal.

He continued to dismiss striking executives and managers on a daily basis; 300 were gone by early January.

The Virginia-based company has already canceled several projects around the country and dismissed more than a dozen top executives.

The company said yesterday that it had trimmed its senior management and dismissed 12 executives, including its head of real estate.

He said it had dismissed several executives and negotiated premium increases with some large customers to improve its finances in 2001.

A British merchant bank dismissed two senior executives.

To some consternation, they dismissed eight longtime executives who, they felt, were unwilling to change.

On April 12, 2007, Dow dismissed two senior executives for "unauthorized discussions with third parties about the potential sale of the company".