Barbara Gayle, Staff reporterA LAWSUIT is pending in the Supreme Court in which Derrick Dunn, former president and chief executive officer of Spectrum Insurance Brokers Limited has sued Spectrum for $24 million for his entitlements under his contract.
The case is set for hearing in June next year.
Dunn who is represented by Garth McBean and Co., is contending in the suit that he is owed commission on new business , bonuses and other payments under his contract.
Spectrum which is represented by the law firm Chancellor and Co. is defending the suit.
SUCCESSFUL APPEAL
Dunn was successful last month in his appeal against his convictions and six month prison sentence.
Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey had convicted Dunn in the Corporate Area Criminal Court on February 2 last year of conspiracy to defraud Spectrum of $5.4 million and forgery and uttering. The Court of Appeal quashed his convictions and set aside the prison sentence.
The case was closely watched by elements in the financial sector as it posed numerous lessons for the conduct of Chief Executive Officers regarding financial matters.
The charges stemmed from Dunn's opening of a bank account without the permission of the board. He had placed and utilised approximately $5.4 million which he repaid in February 2002. He said although the money belonged to him, he repaid the sum involved because he did not want his name to be besmirched.
The Court of Appeal comprising Mr. Justice Seymour Panton, Mr. Justice Algernon Smith and Mrs. Justice Zaila McCalla heard the appeal which centred on the treatment of the claim of right.
Dunn in his capacity as president and CEO of Spectrum had given instructions to the accountant, Mark Chin to open a current account at a bank. Dunn instructed Chin to deposit certain cheques drawn to Spectrum. This account was allegedly opened with documents signed by both Dunn and Chin in capacities that neither had occupied. Dunn and Chin were signatories on the cheques drawn on the account which was used for Dunn's private purposes.
Dunn, in his defence, claimed that the company had owed him monies and he was not only entitled to the sums lodged to the account but had the authority and discretion to take such sums in the manner in which he did.
OWED MONIES
Accountant and then chairman of Spectrum, Mrs. Dorothea Gordon-Smith testified at the trial that Dunn was indeed owed monies by the company, but could not give the court any details as to the amount involved.
Attorneys-at-law Dr. Paul Ashley and Garth McBean who represented Dunn argued on appeal that the prosecution had not discharged its burden of adducing evidence to negative the claim of right. Dr. Ashley submitted that the prosecution had failed in its duty to negative the claim because there was no evidence to prove that Dunn had taken more than he was entitled to, or the opening of the bank account was not in keeping with the modus operandi of the firm.
The Crown was forced to concede.
