The German firm Deutsche Bank AG is being sued for HK$135.3 million ($17 million) in a wrongful dismissal claim filed with Hong Kong’s labor tribunal by a former co-head of Asia corporate finance at the bank – Douglas Morton.

According to the April 22 filing, in addition to HK$30 million in incentive compensation and HK$84 million for loss of future income, the claim made by Morton in the suit also includes damages and legal costs as the remainder of the amount claimed. The former banker is also seeking a declaration from Deutsche Bank that he had “not committed misconduct” was evident from a separate High Court filing dated May 25.

Following an internal investigation into fund transfers he made to the Deutsche Bank’s China securities venture, Morton, 52, is seeking to clear his name after his suspension and subsequent departure from Deutsche Bank last year.

People familiar with the matter had said in July that for at least one deal the venture hadn’t worked on, Morton had allocated revenue to Zhong De Securities Co., suggested the probe. In 2008, 33 percent of Zhong De Securities was bought out by Deutsche Bank.

The High Court filing showed that a declaration from the bank that he wasn’t “reckless or negligent” when he finalized a list of deals for revenue sharing with Zhong De Securitiesin in 2012 and 2014 is being sought by Bottom of Form

Morton. In December 2014, the Chinese venture issued an invoice to Deutsche Bank for 3.6 million euros ($4 million), the document shows. The fact that the invoice did not contain “false and misleading information” is being sought through the lawsuit by Morton from the bank in the form of a declaration in his favor.

“We entirely reject the claim made and will vigorously defend against it. As the matter is before the courts, the bank has no further comments,” Amy Chang, a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman in Hong Kong, said in an e-mail reply to queries from Bloomberg.

When Morton was reached over the phone by Bloomberg, there were no comments from the former Deutsche Bank executive. There were also no comments from a Zhong De official. Whether the internal Deutsche Bank probe has been completed or not is still quite unclear.

At this moment Deutsche Bank is grappling with its biggest management shakeup in more than a decade. The lawsuit at such a time comes as a cause for worry for the bank. Adding to a string of senior departures from the German lender over the past 12 months, Gunit Chadha, its Asia-Pacific chief executive officer, will leave next month.

The high court lawsuit documents further shows that by terminating him, Deutsche Bank “breached the employment contract” with Morton and this former employees is also seeking a declaration from the bank to this effect.

(Adapted from Bloomberg)

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