Gillenmarkets settles dispute with managing director

Investment firm Gillenmarkets has settled a dispute with its managing director, Rory Mason.

Mr Mason told the High Court earlier this year that Gillenmarkets, in which he had a 15 per cent stake, had wrongly dismissed him from his €125,000-a-year job as managing director.

The pair have issued an agreed statement saying they were “pleased to confirm that they have now reached a settlement in their court proceedings”.

“We regret the recent differences that gave rise to the court proceedings. Gillenmarkets accept Mr Mason’s position that he at all times acted in the best interests of the company in his role as managing director,” the statement said.

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It added that after six years in the job, Mr Mason had announced that he was leaving to pursue other interests.

The board thanked Mr Mason for his work as managing director from January 2016 to January 2022 and for contributing to growing the business over that time.

The High Court heard earlier this year that ILTB, trading as Gillenmarkets, had dismissed Mr Mason summarily claiming that he stole €14,000 from the business.

However, Mr Mason said that this was utterly without foundation and maintained it was a contrived attempt to remove him from his post.

He added that he was “left shocked” and “utterly taken aback” by the accusations made at the meeting between him and company chairman Dermot Browne.

Bonus

Mr Mason said that the money was paid to him as an annual bonus and was fully disclosed to and approved by the company’s board.

The court granted an injunction preventing Gillenmarkets from proceeding with the purported dismissal.

However, Mr Browne subsequently told the High Court that Gillenmarkets had not summarily dismissed Mr Mason.

He maintained that the company had concerns about the €14,000 payment that it wanted independently investigated.

Mr Browne said he disagreed with Mr Mason’s account of their meeting and that the company had not sacked or suspended the managing director. He did say he suggested to Mr Mason that he resign his position.