Former Daily Telegraph owner Conrad Black has been forced to return 12 boxes of material to a court-appointed inspector after he was caught on video taking them from his Toronto offices.
Black, who is fighting allegations that he plundered his former company of hundreds of millions of dollars, was captured on camera removing the boxes through a back door late on Friday.
He is under investigation by criminal authorities in the United States and facing lawsuits in both the US and Canada.
In the video footage, shown in court on Wednesday, Black, his long-time assistant Joan Maida and chauffeur John Hillier are seen removing the boxes from the company Hollinger Inc shortly after 5pm. Black is shown holding the door as he handed boxes to Hillier.
An Ontario judge had ordered Black to vacate the offices by May 31 as part of a legal battle with shareholders in the Canadian company. As part of his eviction, he has been ordered to give prior notice to the inspector, accounting firm Ernst & Young, before removing anything.
A spokesperson for the fallen press tycoon said the matter was a misunderstanding.
”These were personal effects that he was removing from the office in the honest belief that he could do so.” The boxes had been returned unopened to ”assuage any concerns”.
Black was ordered to return the materials during the hearing at the Ontario superior court.
The Toronto-based newspaper, the Globe and Mail, was present in court when the video was screened. According to the newspaper, a motion submitted by Hollinger Inc said that Maida had attempted to remove five boxes of materials at 2pm that day but had been prevented from doing so by the inspectors. Then, at 5.11pm, Black was seen approaching the back door from the inside and pointing to boxes stacked near the exit.
The chairperson of Hollinger Inc, Gordon Walker, told the Globe and Mail: ”This is stranger than fiction. I’m quite appalled. I would think this is not a clever move to be doing such a thing.”
Black has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in his business affairs. – Guardian Unlimited Â