the earth'' if the man did not return more than $50,000 of allegedly stolen company money.

Norman Davison, the managing director and president of Davison's of Bermuda, yesterday told a Supreme Court jury he made the comments to his company's former financial director, Colin Clive Andrew Cave.

Mr. Davison said he contacted Cave by telephone about a month after firing the Canadian accountant in December 1995.

"I told Mr. Cave that a lot of money was missing from the companies and I suggested that he should pay it back,'' said Mr. Davison.

"Mr. Cave said `I don't have any money' and I explained to Mr. Cave that if he did not return the money, I would follow him to the ends of the earth.'' Cave denies 36 charges of false accounting and stealing from the holding companies of Davison's Bermuda and US retail stores.

He allegedly stole a total of $54,871.05 during his eight-month employment in 1995.

Mr. Davison told the nine-women, three-man jury he received a letter from American lawyers representing Cave soon after the telephone conversation.

Crown counsel Peter Eccles said the written response refused to repay the amount.

And according to Cave's attorneys, Cave's employment package entitled him to be paid in US funds, have full family medical coverage, and an allowance for "reasonable'' communication and travel costs for Cave to visit his family in America.

It further stated Mr. Davison had promised Cave a three-year contract and had signed a $25,000 cheque as six-month severance pay.

"Mr. Cave wants you to know he has no intent of cashing the $25,000 settlement cheque he received as the money has been paid via bank transfer,'' read Mr. Eccles.

But Mr. Davison rejected the letter's claims.

He said Cave was paid in Bermuda dollar funds and a standard major medical contributory insurance coverage was available to his family if they lived in Bermuda.

No mention was ever made of communication or travel allowances, he said.

Mr. Davison also said he had never given a $25,000 cheque to Cave or authorised a wire transfer for the same amount.

Yesterday, Mr. Eccles took almost three hours to show numerous discrepancies in copies of bank statements, cheques, and ledgers.

The prosecution contends the irregularities represent Cave's thefts and corresponding false accounting to conceal his act.

But under cross-examination by defence lawyer Mark Petingill, Mr. Davison admitted that "everything that Cave was doing was there to be seen''.

Mr. Petingill pointed out the company's annual audit was performed between March and April.

"Mr. Cave's contract ran until May, so before its expiration, all of this could have been seen by the auditors,'' said Mr. Petingill.

And he said a ledger notation which indicated Cave's trip to Baltimore could only have been recognised as an irregularity by Mr. Davison.

Earlier in the trial, the company's US regional manager said Cave had met with company bankers and property management personnel while in Baltimore.

Mr. Petingill suggested the trip, which Mr. Davison said was unauthorised, showed the financial director was privy to plans for company expansion.

The trial continues today.