'Sexist men hid chairman's secrets'

A multi-millionaire claiming a record £4million after she was dismissed from the company she founded, today claimed a "sexist" board of directors hid vital secrets about a big City scandal involving the chairman.

Kate Bleasdale, 41, the chief executive of medical staff agency the Match Group, said directors of the firm appointed Sir Tim Chessells as chairman without showing her his CV.

Sir Tim, former chair of the Legal Aid Board, was appointed in September 1999 following a buyout of the firm the former NHS nurse had started in 1987.

Mrs Bleasdale today told an employment tribunal, where she is claiming unfair dismissal and sex discrimination, that she made repeated but vain requests to other directors for Sir Tim's CV. It was only four months after his appointment when she came across the CV and learned he had been involved in the scandal surrounding the liquidation of platinum traders Johnson Matthey in 1984.

She told the Croydon employment tribunal: "I was shocked when I finally read it. It showed he had acted as the accountant for Johnson Matthey who had signed off the company accounts in 1984. The company subsequently went into liquidation amid a big City scandal."

Asked by Jennifer Eady, for Match Group, if she was saying Sir Tim was an "inappropriate" appointment, she replied: "I would have questioned if he was. We had appointed a chairman who had presided over the collapse of Johnson Matthey. There was a clear problem with that part of his career.

"As a result of that, he effectively stopped being a working accountant. He knew he was not going to get to the stage of managing partner because of the scandal, and started a career as a non-executive." She paused before adding: "The directors did not feel it was appropriate for me to be aware of this."

Earlier, the panel heard Sir Tim kissed Mrs Bleasdale on the forehead before board meetings in a "patronising" way and told sexist jokes. Today she told the hearing her working relationship with him was "appalling" and attacked him for "wanting nothing to do" with the day-to-day running of the firm.

She also told how he repeatedly undermined her in meetings by seeking explanations of her statements from male directors.

She claims Sir Tim's bullying pushed her to the point of a nervous breakdown and is seeking compensation for future earnings lost after she was dismissed in March last year.

The hearing continues.