By Sujin Thomas

THE loot that a former employee of luxury watch retailer Cortina was alleged to have made off with is worth more than $13 million in the marketplace.

Jerry Ee (right), who is wanted by police for the Christmas Day heist at Cortina's Raffles City store, was picky about the watches he allegedly stole.

The 35-year-old allegedly took 386 timepieces from six designer brands - Audemars Piguet, Girard Perregaux, Panerai, Patek Philippe, Rolex and Vacheron Constantin - along with 194 pieces of accompanying guarantee cards.

Their exact worth: $13,225,383.

Ee also allegedly stole cash amounting to $27,137 from a store safe.

These details emerged in a writ of summons filed by Cortina's lawyers in the High Court last Wednesday. It is hoped that the value of the watches, cash stolen as well as one month of Ee's salary of $2,130 will be recovered.

Ee started work for Cortina on April 28, 2004 as a customer relations associate at its Raffles City branch. His job was to handle customer enquiries, merchandise display, pricing and inventory.

When the store opened for business on Boxing Day, staff discovered that the watches were missing and called the police.

In a regulatory filing with the Singapore Exchange shortly after the theft, Cortina said the stolen timepieces carried a net cost of about $7.9 million.

When Ee did not turn up for work and could not be contacted, Cortina sacked him. He is now on Interpol's wanted list as he is believed to have fled the country.

He is listed on Interpol's website as being 1.62m tall and weighing 50kg. It added that he is able to speak English, Mandarin and Thai. Ee is divorced and lived with his parents and his 11-year-old son in a Bukit Merah flat until he went missing.

Cortina's civil action to recover damages is not unusual. Clients of fugitive lawyer David Rasif did the same when he absconded with $11.3 million of their money.

In Ee's absence, the courts may order him to be made a bankrupt, garnish his bank account or even order a writ of seizure and sale on his assets.

Ee is believed to have pulled off one of Singapore's biggest heists to date.

Cortina has circulated a list of the stolen watches to suppliers across the world to alert buyers, such as auction houses. The watches have individual serial numbers, making them more difficult to sell since buyers are now on the alert.

The case is fixed for mention in the High Court on April 1. The retailer's lawyer is Mr Chia Foon Yeow of Loo & Partners.