The founder of Bridgecorp is claiming a half million dollar "performance bonus" for the period leading up to the collapse of the finance company last year.
And Rod Petricevic has stunned investors by claiming he is owed another $600,000 for severance payments and expenses.
Alex Tee spent 10 years building up the $60,000 nest egg that he invested in Bridgecorp and he is still coming to terms with the loss.
"It's not just financial distress...it effects on emotional side as well," the Bridgecorp investor says.
Receivers says Bridgecorp's 15,000 investors might get back as little as 16 cents in the dollar, but Bridgecorp's managing director won't be short of cash.
Petricevic was paid a salary and bonus package worth $1.2 million before the company collapsed. The receivers say he also used company money to pay a $600,000 tax bill and they are fighting his claim for a final bonus worth $550,000.
The performance bonuses paid to Petricevic were part of a Bridgecorp incentive scheme designed to reward executives for "superior" performance. However the final bonus which he is claiming was calculated for the year which ended just two days before Bridgecorp collapsed.
Petricevic is claiming:
- Six months salary (unpaid) - after the collapse - worth $275,000
- Redundancy pay of $190,000
- Holiday pay worth $63,000
- Expenses of $99,000
Petricevic's barrister says there is nothing underhand and the performance bonus was approved by two of Bridgecorp's directors.
But Tee believes the claims are unethical.
"The fundamental is, if you do it well you got rewarded, if you're not doing right you don't touch anything that is not rightfully yours."
It is now up to the high court to decide whether to send the Bridgecorp bonus argument to the employment court.
