million in damages from a local bank and its subsidiary trust company.

St. G. Club Limited, which owns The St. George's Club, is pursuing legal action against the International Trust Company of Bermuda Limited and the Bermuda Commercial Bank.

St. G. Club Ltd. chairman and CEO Alistair Woolf said the decision to proceed with legal action had received the unanimous support of the group's board of directors.

He declined to comment further on the matter. A party close to the matter, who asked to remain nameless, said the company was "as serious as a heart attack'' about pursuing the litigation and disclosed that total damages claimed could exceed US$15 million.

ITCB is a wholly owned subsidiary of BCB and held funds on behalf of the club's original developer York Hanover (St. George's) Ltd. These funds were protected under the Timeshare Act of 1981.

St. G. Club Ltd. purchased York Hannover (St. George's) Ltd.'s assets in December, 1994.

Before the purchase, BCB allegedly called in payment of funds from these protected accounts to redeem outstanding loans between it and York Hannover.

The Royal Gazette understands that St. George's Club Ltd. is alleging in its claim that ITCB breached trust account safeguards and provisions and failed to protect the funds by allowing BCB to transfer the money from them and failing to secure its return.