THE managing director of the State's largest fish farming company has been charged in a Scottish court with obtaining more than £12 million sterling by fraud. The company has said he has "voluntarily and temporarily stepped aside" from his post.
Mr Stuart Baillie and his father, Malcolm, were charged at Inverness Sheriff Court last Thursday. The Scottish public prosecutor said the sum involved in the alleged fraud was £12,633,684.09 sterling. Both men were granted bail.
Mr Baillie, a Scottish national, is managing director of Gaelic Seafoods, a Connemara based firm employing 168 people in the Republic.
A company spokesman said yesterday that Mr Stuart Baillie had, with effect from last Saturday, "voluntarily and temporarily stepped aside from his role as managing director of Gaelic Seafoods (Ireland) Ltd pending the resolution of this matter".
The company was formed in 1992 when it took over the fishfarming subsidiary of cigarette company P.J. Carroll. In 1995, Gaelic Seafoods bought the bulk of the ESB salmon farming operation in a deal formally approved by the then Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Michael Lowry.
The ESB said at the time it was aware of a police investigation into the collapse of a Scottish fish firm which had been managed by Mr Baillie. The Lees Group went into receivership in 1992 with debts of £8 million sterling.
No addresses were given in court for Mr Baillie (36) and his father, Mr Malcolm Baillie (70). The Edinburgh Crown Office said neither of the two men had made a plea or declaration.
The men are believed to have been arrested in Birmingham on Wednesday. The company statement said that the allegations against Mr Baillie "relate to a commercial enterprise with which he was involved prior to 1991, before the formation of the Gaelic Seafoods Group, and are not in any way linked to the group".
The company statement yesterday concluded: "The successful operation of Gaelic Seafoods Group and the jobs of the 250 employees throughout the company are not affected by these developments. Business continues as usual."
