Ex-Hollinger man seeks £6m-plus

HOLLINGER International executive Jack Boultbee is seeking about £6.8m in his wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the newspaper publisher.

According to court documents Boultbee, one of Lord Black's former lieutenants, is looking for C$16m.

He was dumped as vice president last month after Hollinger, owner of the Telegraph newspapers, said it discovered $32m in unauthorised payments to top executives, including chief executive Black and chief operating officer David Radler.

Black and Radler agreed to resign and return the money but Boultbee, whose share of the payments was $600,000, was dismissed after he refused to do so.

Boultbee, who trained as an accountant, has said he was told payments were authorised and therefore he should not be expected to pay them back.

He began a legal battle against his former employer last month without specifying the amount of damages he was seeking.

A statement of claim filed in an Ontario court showed Boultbee's claims against Hollinger International include C$3.7m for loss of remuneration, C$746,200 for loss of benefits, about C$7m for breach of contract with the resulting loss of stock option opportunities, and C$1m for loss of reputation.

Meanwhile, Lord Black yesterday refused to testify before US financial regulators.

At a hearing in Chicago, he cited his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on his lawyers' advice.

'In light of the very early stage of the investigation, the lack of time to adequately prepare and the uncertainty regarding the nature and scope of the investigation, we advised Lord Black that he should exercise his constitutional right not to testify,' his lawyer John Warden said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into Hollinger, which also publishes the Chicago Sun-Times, after disclosures of the special payments not authorised by its board. Black resigned as chief executive last month but remains non-executive chairman.