Hans Black — the Canadian money manager who has been recommended by the Bermuda Police Service for prosecution for allegedly defrauding a client of $6 million — has spoken on why the investor has not been able to get her money back.

Mr. Black, whose Montreal-based Interinvest group manages more than $2 billion from offices in Canada, Bermuda, Switzerland and the US, is suspected of embezzling funds sent for investment in the Bermuda-domiciled Hedge Hog and Conserve Fund, which is managed by Interinvest (Bermuda) Ltd.

A police investigation was launched following a complaint from Regula Dobie, a Swiss national residing in Kenya who has been trying to withdraw her funds from Interinvest since mid-2007.

The matter was referred by the Bermuda Police's Financial Crime Unit to the Director of Public Prosecutions, as reported in this newspaper last week.

Mr. Black, 55, also faces a civil suit in Quebec from another Swiss client claiming to be owed $2 million.

According to a report in Canadian newspaper The Gazette, Mr. Black said in a telephone message that the situation was "very unfortunate" and said the two cases involve long-term investors and hedge funds in the process of being wound down that contained both liquid securities and private-equity positions.

"Both of these individuals have obviously tried absolutely everything they can to get what they believe is their investment back, claiming they didn't know about the private equity," said Mr. Black. In a separate statement, the company said: "The lawsuits arose from a commercial disagreement in the normal course of business and Interinvest Bermuda will continue to argue its case vigorously."

Interinvest added: "Interinvest has a 20-plus-year track record of providing prudent financial advice to clients who have, in general, expressed a high degree of satisfaction with our advice and performance. Our average account is up 40 percent this year."

After trying to redeem her investment since May 31, 2007 without any success, Ms Dobie filed a complaint at Bermuda Supreme Court on September 24, 2008 alleging breach of contract against Interinvest (Bermuda) Ltd. and fraudulent misrepresentation against Black.

On June 1, 2009, Justice Ian Kawaley determined that Interinvest (Bermuda) had no defence to failing to repay the monies sent by Dobie and granted her application for summary judgment against the company in a minimum amount of $5 million, plus interest and damages to be assessed at a later date.