DCC chief executive Mr Jim Flavin "masterminded" unlawful €106 million insider deals in the sale and purchase of shares in fruit distributor Fyffes plc, the High Court was told today.
Fyffes had a tape recording of Mr Flavin, having concluded the deal with Mr Ronan Godfrey of Davy Stockbrokers, "laughing" as he told Mr Godfrey he had "no authority" to do so, the court heard.
That tape and others showed that, while DCC and Mr Flavin would claim he was "just a conduit for unsolicited bids", he was "far more", Mr Paul Gallagher SC, for Fyffes said.
He said Mr Flavin "did not just pass on unsolicited bids, he negotiated the price, the class of shares to be sold, the commission rate and the split of the shares".
Then Mr Flavin arranged for a purchasing agent to be contacted by a representative of Lotus Green, a DCC subsidiary and the alleged beneficial owner of the shares, and did so purportedly on the basis that he had "no authority".
In legal proceedings expected to last ten weeks, Fyffes is seeking some €85 million compensation for the share deal which, the company claims, breached insider dealing provisions of the Companies Acts.
The share disposal amounted to 87 per cent of DCC's shareholding in Fyffes.