By JAMIE LEE

CORTINA Holdings has sued a former employee who went missing following a heist at the company last year and is seeking $13.3 million in compensation, Lianhe Zaobao reported yesterday.

Citing a writ of summons filed last Wednesday, the Chinese newspaper said the watch retailer was suing Jerry Ee to claim some $13 million for the stolen watches based on their market value, as well as to recover stolen cash, his one month's salary due to a breach of employment contract and other losses. This is nearly 70 per cent higher than the $7.9 million that Cortina said it had lost from the heist late last year. Cortina declined comment when contacted.

Between Christmas Day and Boxing Day, 386 watches, including a rare set of Vacheron Constantin Les Masques watches as well as watches from Rolex, Panerai, Audemars Piguet and Girard-Perregaux, were stolen from the company's outlet at Raffles City Shopping Centre.

Mr Ee, who was a senior supervisor at the company, has been on the Interpol wanted notice to assist in investigations of the case. He has been missing since the theft.

The writ was filed in the High Court by Loo & Partners LLP's Chia Foon Yeow. BT was unable to contact Mr Chia.

Though Mr Ee has not been found, lawyers told BT that the writ can be served to his last known address. Lawyer Robson Lee told BT that the plaintiff must first seek a court order to serve notice in this manner under what is known as substituted service.

Once the court order is obtained, the company can then seek the defendant's response on whether he is contesting the claim without serving the writ to the defendant directly. If the defendant makes no appearance within eight days, the plaintiff can apply for a default judgment, which is entered against an absent party of a lawsuit.

Lawyer Nicholas Narayanan said that with a default judgment, the court can execute judgment against the defendant's assets, including money in his bank accounts. Other ways of serving the notice would be to advertise in the newspapers, he added.

Mr Lee said that the court's decision can be overturned if the defendant offers a good reason for his absence.

This article was first published in The Business Times.