L’Oréal’s President and Director General for Hong Kong, Stephan Mosely, is said to have announced his retirement, according to a report published by Hong Kong Free Press.

Staff at the French cosmetics giant’s Hong Kong base reportedly received an internal email announcing Mosely’s intention to retire at the end of the month. Eva Yu, currently Managing Director of L’Oréal Luxe Travel Retail Asia Pacific, is said to have been announced as his successor.

Singer and pro-democracy activist Denise Ho, whose billing at a planned promotional concert caused Lancôme to cancel the event following online protests in China, claims that Mosely’s departure is a cynical attempt by the company to avoid facing the consequences of the cancellation.

“The relevant group uses the excuse of the responsible person retiring to make it difficult for people to follow up, so the incident will end without ever being resolved,” she told Apple Daily.