The chief executive of InterContinental Hotels in Asia Pacific, and a prospective board member at the leisure group, has quit with immediate effect after it discovered that he had lied on his CV.

"This is a very serious matter and we have treated it very seriously," a spokesman for InterContinental Hotels said this morning.

Patrick Imbardelli, who joined InterContinental in 2000, told the company when he applied for his job that he had three university degrees, a company spokesman said.

Mr Imbardelli had claimed a Bachelor of Arts from Victoria University in Australia and a Bachelor of Sciences and a Masters from Cornell University in America, the spokesman said.

But following an internal review after InterContinental announced plans in May to promote Mr Imbardelli to the main board, it was discovered that he had none of these qualifications.

"While he attended classes at the universities, he did not graduate," the spokesman said. He said that the company had discovered the anomaly after viewing "internal information" but he declined to confirm whether there had been a whistleblower.

"This decision follows an internal review of the academic qualifications of Patrick as previously presented to the company," InterContinental told its investors in a formal statement to the stock market.

The spokesman confirmed that Mr Imbardelli would be receiving no pay-off and no disciplinary action would follow.

He said that neither Mr Imbardelli nor his legal representatives would be making any comment today and declined requests for an interview.

Mr Imbardelli joined Bass, the forerunner to InterContinental, in 2000. After taking on a number of management roles with Hilton International and Hyatt Corporation, he became the managing director of Asia Pacific for IHG in 2003.

Tony South, currently the senior vice-president of development and asset management for Asia Pacific at IHG, becomes the acting chief executive with immediate effect.

Shares closed at £13.22, valuing the group at £3.95 billion.

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