- Media tycoon Conrad Black has been removed as chairman
of the Hollinger group and is being sued for damages over unauthorised
payments to him.
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- He is the subject of a $200m (£108m) lawsuit but
denies any wrongdoing.
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- Lord Black is at the centre of claims he and other executives
received millions in unauthorised payments, leaving shareholders furious.
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- The revelations led Canadian-born Lord Black to quit
as chief executive of the group, which owns the Daily Telegraph.
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- Hollinger International said on Saturday the executive
committee of its board of directors had removed Lord Black as chairman,
effective immediately. He remains a board member and the company's controlling
shareholder.
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- A special committee of the publishing group, which also
owns the Jerusalem Post and the Chicago Sun-Times, set up to investigate
the unauthorised payments, filed the lawsuit in US District Court for Manhattan
South.
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- It charges that the group's mother company, Hollinger
Inc., Lord Black and others "diverted and usurped corporate assets
and opportunities from the company through systematic breaches of fiduciary
duties".
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- Offshore accounts
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- A lawyer for Lord Black, John Warden, said in a statement
that the lawsuit was an attempt by the special committee to cover up contradictions
between different board members' evidence.
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- Lord Black has insisted the unauthorised payments were
above board.
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- Last week Hollinger was reported to have paid its senior
executives $3m (£1.62m) in bonuses via an offshore bank.
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- The money was wired to the Caribbean unit of a Canadian
bank in December 2000, according to the New York Times.
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- Late last year, an internal investigation at Hollinger
revealed that Lord Black and other top executives pocketed payments worth
£32.2m without the approval of the firm's audit committee.
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- Repayments
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- The cash came from "non-competition" fees paid
by buyers of Hollinger titles in return for undertakings that the firm
would not launch new rival products.
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- This angered shareholders, who argued that the money
should have been ploughed back into the company.
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- Lord Black of Crossharbour - to give him his full title
- and other executives involved have agree to repay the money in full,
with interest, by June next year.
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- Hollinger is considering selling off the Telegraph titles
in an effort to shore up its finances, with several potential buyers thought
to be lining up bids.
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- © BBC MMIV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3406929.stm
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