action to get back tens of millions of dollars, it was claimed yesterday.

The alleged threat came in a meeting between the two multi-millionaires after Mrs. MacMillan pulled out of a $8.5 million deal to sell her home, Perot's Island in Riddell's Bay.

In Supreme Court yesterday, Mrs. MacMillan's lawyer Mr. Julian Hall, who was at the meeting, clashed with Mr. DeGroote over what happened.

Mr. DeGroote has described how he came to Bermuda after cutting ties with his homeland - a move which cost him huge sums in Canadian taxes.

He says "a contract was a contract'' and wants the trial judge to order the sale of the is land.

The court heard of a meeting at Mr. Hall's offices on April 29, 1991, a day before the Perot's Island sale was due to be finalised.

Mr. Hall asked Mr. DeGroote if he recalled threatening to hold Mrs. MacMillan liable for the tens of millions of dollars he spent in taxes.

Mr. DeGroote said it was possible he raised the subject, but denied threatening Mrs. MacMillan.

He accused Mr. Hall of not allowing Mrs. MacMillan to speak to him and telling her: "Don't answer his questions''.

The clash was the latest in Mr. Hall's detailed grilling of Mr. DeGroote over almost three days.

Mr. Hall claims the Perot's Island deal is invalid because professionals working for Mrs. MacMillan on the deal acted more in Mr. DeGroote's interests, pushing events along faster than she could make up her mind.

The trial will show if decades of "normal'' practice by real estate agents has been illegal, he says.

Yesterday Mr. Hall also attacked Mr. DeGroote's claim for $4.28 million "out-of-pocket'' damages.

More than half the amount is a loss Mr. DeGroote says he will make on his present $6.5 million home, Evergreen, if he sells it to move on to Perot's Island.

More than $312,000 of the damages is money spent by Mr. DeGroote on improvements to Evergreen, the court heard.

Mr. DeGroote defended the spending, saying a slippery pool deck had to be made safe and work left incomplete had to be finished.

Mr. Hall asked him why he had felt it was necessary to buy Evergreen when he could have rented somewhere else.

Mr. DeGroote said Evergreen was not available for rental, and he could not find anything else "reasonaby suitable''.

Mr. Hall asked why he had "ignored'' another available property, Lancashire Lodge, pointed out to him by Mr. Hall and Mr. Hall's wife Isabella. Mr.

DeGroote said the home was not in the right place.

Mrs. MacMillan, who has owned the island since 1987, is said to be worth $700 million from her family company Cargill in the US.

Mr. DeGroote is the founder of Laidlaw, one of Canada's biggest companies. In 1988 he sold it for about $500 million.