Sacked Royal Liver director 'signed off £3.6m of unauthorised payments'
Share
Former Royal Liver finance director George McGregor has been accused of signing off contracts worth £3.6m with an investment advisory firm owned by former Royal Liver investments head James Stuart-Smith.
Last week Money Marketing revealed that Royal Liver had sacked McGregor (pictured) and was taking legal proceedings over claims he sanctioned unauthorised payments and entered into commercial arrangements with a third party.
Royal Liver has confirmed that those commercial arrangements were made with Stuart-Smith’s investment advice firm Utility Capital Management.
A spokesman says: “Royal Liver confirms that it has brought proceedings against James Stuart-Smith and associated companies in relation to certain alleged commercial arrangements between the parties and is seeking to recover over £3.6m of unauthorised payments.”
A Utility Capital Management spokeswoman says: “UCM entered into contractual arrangements with RLA last year in good faith.
“According to recent public reports, RLA is now alleging that its former finance director, George McGregor, failed to obtain the necessary internal approval for these contracts. This comes as a surprise to UCM since it had no reason at the time to doubt McGregor’s authority.
“Having taken legal advice, UCM remains of the view that the contracts are binding and effective. Suffice to say UCM has provided, and been paid for, services to RLA in accordance with its obligations under the contracts and continues to seek to do so.”
If you enjoyed this article, sign up here to receive daily email updates from Money Marketing and Follow @_moneymarketing
