If there’s one thing to come out of the Seven-Amber Harrison stoush over the past seven months it has been Seven’s unwavering commitment to CEO Tim Worner despite the very public and often salacious allegations.
Many commentators wondering why the broadcaster would spend so much in legal fees (rumoured to have been over $1 million) to destroy their former employee in court when they could have paid a tenth of that in hush money.
And it appears that Seven chairman Kerry Stokes was the main driver (and deep pockets) to skewer Harrison.
Of particular distaste to Stokes was Harrison’s allegations, revealed in court documents, that Worner had affairs with other females at the network. Worner was later cleared of the allegations and Harrison herself also apologised to the women she named.
The blogger, who publicly named the women, is now facing jail time. Read that story here.
Stokes, who generally refused to comment while the very public legal fight played out, has now come out and said Harrison’s naming of the women was “wildly false” and “disgusting”.
“We only took action to protect innocent people and the company from her baseless accusations, as exposed by two judgments in the NSW Supreme Court,” Stokes said, his comments reported on The Australian.
“This has been a very difficult situation for the company, which features women in 50 per cent of our senior executive positions and is regarded as one of the top employers in Australia.”
Stokes was also reportedly furious that Seven had paid Harrison a termination fee $420,000 on the proviso that she not go public with her story and she return sensitive documents in her possession. Harrison choosing to do neither.
Stokes was also livid of the “$200,000 she misappropriated from us on the credit card” a reference to Harrison’s misuse of Seven’s expenses.
