Merrill in battle to block tribunal costs

MERRILL LYNCH is back in an employment tribunal, fighting a costs claim of around £500,000 from its former high flier Stephanie Villalba, relating to 'lies' by her former bosses in her long-running sex discrimination battle against the bank.

Villalba lost the bulk of her £7.5m discrimination claim against the bank in December, and usually, parties to an employment tribunal bear their own lawyers' costs.

But Villalba is today asking the tribunal for Merrill to pay her costs because of the behaviour of its lawyers, Lovells, in 'purposefully seeking to make life difficult and expensive'.

She will also rely on a finding in the original judgment that four senior Merrill executives were guilty of 'deliberate inaccuracy' in their evidence.

Villalba, who is currently appealing against the original ruling, advised by lawyers Lewis Silkin, said: 'Firms, however large and profitable, must be held to account for their senior executives lying on oath.'

The hearing will be an embarrassment for Villalba's former bosses Raymundo Yu, global head of private banking, and Ausaf Abbas, European head of the same unit.