Cinar Corp CEO Barrie Usher has said that the company will keep founders Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg on the board of directors, despite having asked them to step down on August 17.

The news comes after the two said through a lawyer that they would not resign as company directors unless the other board members also stepped down to make for a clean slate. Charest and Weinberg are majority shareholders, with 62% of Cinar's voting shares, and therefore cannot be forced out as directors. The husband-and-wife team also said they "strongly disagreed" with the board's decision to fire them as company employees.

The Montreal-based children's production company is facing allegations of tax fraud, unspecified related-party transactions and unauthorised off-shore investments. The founders have been on leave since March, when trading on the Toronto and Nasdaq stock markets was halted. Nasdaq delisted the stock August 2.