Chartis accuses ex-vice president of making 'secret profits' in £1m lawsuit

Chartis is alleging that a former London-based senior vice president made “secret profits” from staff he helped recruit for the insurer.

Chartis claims Claude Maillet kept them in the dark about a profit-sharing deal he had signed with a recruitment firm, Resourcing Plus Limited.

The deal allowed London-based Maillet to earn 60% of the after-tax profits, according to spreadsheets found on his old laptop computer, it is claimed.

Now Chartis has issued a writ at the High Court requesting £1m damages from Resourcing Plus Limited and its director Lucas Kirk.

Maillet is not being sued by Chartis. He no longer works at the company.

Chartis declined to comment.

When Insurance Times requested the defence documentation at the High Court, none was publicly available.

The details of the writ describe how Maillet was first taken on by Chartis in June 2008 to work in the London office as a senior vice president – global business consulting leader in the capital management department.

A key role was to recommend suppliers, contractors and staff.

In September 2008, Maillet recommended recruitment firm Resourcing Plus Limited and signed a form saying there was no conflict of interest, the writ says.

Resourcing Plus Limited was then taken on to find staff and contractors for the GIFT Project, a plan to transform the way Chartis records its finances.

Resourcing Plus Limited then recruited 30 contractors, 19 of which are currently working at Chartis and 11 have gone.

Chartis paid commissions of £1.5m to Resource Plus Limited, but an outstanding bill of £575,942 has not been paid, the court papers say.

Maillet, whose salary and benefits amounted to £200,000, resigned on December 21 last year.

By then, Maillet was working in Paris under the new role of process lead-finance reorganisation within the regional change programme management department. Resourcing Plus Ltd’s registered address is St John Street in London EC1.