Bermuda-domiciled Dominion Petroleum has paid out £2.5 million to its former finance director Carlo Seidel to compensate him for loss of office and his legal costs, according to independent news website SmallCapNews.

The settlement sum is more than 10 times Mr. Seidel's salary, while he will also get to keep his existing shares and options in the company.

Dominion Petroleum, which is an independent energy company specialising in oil and gas reserves exploration in east and central Africa, dismissed Mr. Seidel in January 2007, a month after listing on the Alternative Investment Market.

The company's announcement at the time only stated that he had left with immediate effect and it was in advanced discussions with a new finance director.

Court proceedings were started last year by Dominion Petroleum in Bermuda and in 2008 in London by Mr. Seidel, who was claiming wrongful dismissal.

According to documentation on the company's website, Mr. Seidel's salary at the time of listing was £ 180,000 in aggregate from two Dominion companies and he was also on an initial 12-month contract with three months notice thereafter.

Mike Garland, chief executive of Dominion Petroleum, said: "Settlement of these disputes removes any uncertainty surrounding this matter and enables management (an investors) to focus 100 percent on the great portfolio of assets Dominion has assembled thus far as the company moves into the next phase of its development - high impact drilling."