Vic De Zen denied any wrongdoing related to the fraud charges he is facing before the court.
“It's a waste of time,” De Zen said in a short interview with PN prior to the trial's resumption on Sept. 13 in Oshawa.
The former Royal Group Technologies Ltd. chairman and CEO said he would rather concentrate his efforts on his new company, Vision Extrusions Ltd. of Woodbridge, Ontario, and growing business in Cuba and Brazil.
The first order of business in the resumed trial is determining admissibility of evidence to be given by Ron Goegan, former Royal Group vice president of finance. That trial-within-a-trial is expected to take most or all of the week of Sept. 13; De Zen and other defendants were excused from the courtroom for the duration of those proceedings.
De Zen and three other executives were charged with fraud for their role in buying a land parcel and then reselling it to Royal Group for a C$6.5 million (US$6.3 million) profit. The others charged are Goegan, former Royal Group President Douglas Dunsmuir and former Chief Financial Officer Gary Brown.
De Zen and others also face fraud charges stemming from the issuance of warrants in the sale of a subsidiary. De Zen, Dunsmuir, former Vice President Luciano Galasso and former accounting director Gordon Brocklehurst allegedly received and cashed the warrants without informing Royal Group's board of the deal. The warrants were sold for C$2 million (US$1.9 million).
The trial broke for a summer recess June 25. It is expected to last into November.