Ex-Tory Minister (and notorious cad) Tim Yeo is once again on the wrong end of a judge’s wrath, after being found guilty of deliberately misusing his “fiduciary powers” as chair of TMO Renewables and repeatedly offering misleading evidence in court. As if being called “dishonest” by one judge wasn’t enough…

Yeo, along with several other company directors, was accused of “a dishonest strategy for maintaining control of the Board” after a majority shareholder moved to replace the board’s membership; a strategy which included “mislead[ing] existing shareholders” into thinking the company had just received a substantial cash investment, when in reality the new friendly shareholders had not invested a penny. Looks like another costly mistake for Yeo; representing yourself in court because you can’t afford a lawyer never bodes well…

As you’d expect, the full judgement pulls no punches. Highlights from the judge’s conclusions include:

“I reject Mr Yeo’s evidence, which seemed to me to protest too much.

He frequently resorted to very long recitations of his case which avoided giving a straightforward answer to the question he had been asked and appeared designed to take the discussion in a different direction […] this propensity on the part of Mr Yeo to “speechify” tended to give his evidence a contrived, evasive and rather self-serving quality.

In all the circumstances I find that the issue of shares to VSA was in breach of the Director Defendants’ fiduciary powers in that it was made for an improper purpose; I also find that each of the Director Defendants was motivated by this improper purpose.”

Yeo also issued a counterclaim to refute the judgements – no luck. The claim was dismissed.

There is widespread speculation that Tim Yeo faces bankruptcy, which would see him disqualified from being a director. This follows his costly and unsuccessful claim for defamation against The Times. Looks like the chancer’s spivvy dealings will, at the age of 76, finally finish him off…

Hat-tip:  ShareProphets