Healthcare Locums suspended trading in its shares in January after discovering ‘serious accounting irregularities’. Ms Bleasdale was sacked two months later. 

By Jonathan Russell

6:30AM BST 02 Jul 2011

Responding to claims from Ms Bleasdale that she was sacked for blowing the whistle on the accounting problems, a company spokesman said: “We are more than surprised by Ms Bleasdale’s claims because the company’s findings are that she was not a whistleblower but was involved in the serious accounting regularities that have been uncovered.

“We are confident of our position.”

Healthcare Locums suspended trading in its shares in January after discovering “serious accounting irregularities”. Ms Bleasdale was sacked two months later. The gravity of the issues mean it has not been unable to put out accounts for 2010.

Ms Bleasdale declined to comment on the latest allegation from HCL. However a source close to her said:”She raised the concerns in writing to the Board of HCL at the beginning of January – as soon as she found out about them. Their statement makes no sense at all.”

The claim comes as shareholders are battling over what’s left of HCL. Minor shareholder Arundel Capital wrote to the board of the company warning them about legal action if it proceeded with a mooted refinancing deal with another shareholder Toscafund. Although the company has stated it is looking at a number of possibilities for refinancing its £130m debt pile reports have suggested it favours a deal with Toscafund

The letter also claimed HCL is paying over £1m on advisor fees to sort out the accounting issues.

A spokesman for HCL dismissed Arundel’s claims about a deal with Toscafund calling them “sensationalist and blatantly wrong”. He also said Arundel did not have all the facts on advisors’ fees.

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