Allied Newspapers wants Hillman to restitute money he spent without authorisation

After Adrian Hillman on Tuesday took Allied Newspapers Limited  to court seeking compensation for unfair dismissal, the company today filed a judicial letter seeking a refund from its former managing director of company money he allegedly used without authorisation.

Allied Newspapers is claiming Hillman used company credit cards and transferred company money to other bank accounts without authorisation.

This money was related to the unauthorised purchase of company cars and money spent on “unilateral and abusive” wage increases that Hillman paid to himself, the company claimed.

It asked the court to order Hillman to repay the money.

In its judicial letter, Allied Newspapers claimed it was filing in order to block any claims of legal prescription that could bar any legal action it took.

Hillman had resigned from the publisher after being suspended in March after being named in the Panama Papers exposé. He had been managing director of Allied Newspapers and non-executive chairman of its sister company Progress Press Ltd at the time, but had stepped down in the aftermath of the scandal.

In March, blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia had published claims that Hillman had been receiving kickbacks from Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff. Schembri also owns Kasco Ltd, a paper supplier, and was alleged to have been awarded work contracts at Progress Press in return for kickbacks.

Both men's names had appeared as owners of offshore companies in secretive jurisdictions in the so-called Panama Papers. Allied Newspapers had suspended Hillman pending the outcome of an “independent internal inquiry” to look into the allegations. The findings of the inquiry are yet to be made public.

Hillman had tendered his resignation from the company on May 25,  claiming constructive dismissal. “The fact that things were left pending for so long was prejudicing his health and that of his family,” the application is reported to read. He is claiming that his resignation was prompted by the uncertainty surrounding his future, although he had not been formally notified of any disciplinary action against him.

In a statement, the board of directors of Allied Newspapers “robustly” rejected Hillman's claims of unfair dismissal.