Once again, we find surveillance threats coming from within a company’s perimeters. Potted plants need to be checked carefully during any office sweep. They make an easy hiding place for eavesdropping devices. In this case, from Scotland, it was the chairman who actually approved the bugging.
Ultimo bra tycoon Michelle Mone’s firm accused of bugging pot plant in office of former director
By Sally Hind, DailyRecord.co.uk 9/24/2013
THE 35-year-old operations director claims he found a recording device in a plant pot containing artificial flowers at the headquarters in East Kilbride.
A FORMER director of Michelle Mone’s bra firm yesterday told how he was horrified to discover his plant pot had been bugged after a row with the tycoon. Scott Kilday described how he found a “covert recording device” wrapped around an artificial flower as he debated resigning from Michelle’s lingerie firm in the wake of her bitter split with husband Michael.
Kilday said he came across the device because he noticed some tanning products had been tidied up in front of the plant. He said: “I went over, had a look in the pot and saw a cable coming out, which was wrapped around the artificial flowers. I pulled the cable and saw there was a device.
“I had spent most of my working life at the company, for the best part of 10 years. I was astonished by the fact someone would plant a device in my office.”
A solicitor for Michelle’s firm MJM yesterday admitted Kilday’s office was bugged but denied any wrongdoing.
The company claim the 35-year-old operations director’s conversations were recorded because bosses feared he was plotting to jump ship to Michael’s new rival company.
Kilday made his claims at an employment tribunal where he accused MJM of unfair dismissal and argues he was denied £35,000 in shares by mum-of-three Michelle.
He told how his job at the company became almost unbearable when the Mones split in 2011.
He said: “There came a time when Michelle and Michael couldn’t sit in a room together.
“With them being majority shareholders it was very difficult to get any decisions made… which ultimately was the downfall of the business. With Michael and Michelle having personal differences, there was a lack of focus in the business. I felt my job was to stay and try and work things out.”
The firm were bought over by MAS Holdings in February, two days after Michael signed his shares over to his ex-wife.
Kilday claims he was told by Michelle that MAS requested his resignation as a director before the deal could go through. He argued that he should be given a compensation package as he felt he had played a major part in saving the company. When he was offered a deal to stay on, he said he had already developed trust issues with her and would instead be seeking compensation to move on.
He then told how he was horrified to discover a voice recorder hidden in his office at the HQ in East Kilbride.
Kilday told the tribunal in Glasgow: “I had artificial flowers on one of my units in my office. It was stuck down the side of a plant pot. It had a microphone coming out of it. I noticed that first of all. I was pulling it through when the device came out. It seemed it was recording at that point.”
Kilday said he then discovered Michelle had recently been signing into the office at night. He said: “A PA told me. She said Michael had been signing in. It was actually Michelle using Michael’s swipe card to sign in. It was all after 8pm, which is highly unusual.”
He did not explain how he had learned Michelle had been using the card.
Alice Stobart, for MJM, claimed the company had done no wrong having the bug in Kilday’s office. She said he had signed a confidentiality agreement allowing his emails and phone conversations to be recorded or intercepted if necessary. She said the device was planted with the authorisation of Eliaz Poleg, chairman of the new company formed from the sale of MJM, Ultimo Brands International, who had become suspicious Kilday was planning to start working for Michael’s new firm, Pendulum Apparel. She said to Kilday: “I put it to you that they had a right to do that, given the concern of the company.”
Kilday – who now works for Michael but denies arranging this before he quit – said: “I’m sure there are more ethical ways of approaching it.”
Ms Stobart told the tribunal two different devices were used to record in Kilday’s office. Kilday took the second one when he walked out. The solicitor asked Kilday if he had deleted recordings from the device. He denied this.