Lord Black said on Monday that he would retire as CEO of Hollinger today, after it was revealed that the company had made payments worth £32.5m (£19.1m) to him and other top executives.
However, instead of waiting for Friday, he left on Wednesday evening -- two days early -- acting on legal advice, and making him unable to sign off a filing for the US Securites & Exchange Commission for the last quarter. He remains the company's chairman and leading shareholder.
At a book tour event in Manhattan for his biography of Franklin D Roosevelt yesterday, he moved to justify his swift exit.
He said: "I thought that on balance it was more appropriate for the incoming executive to sign."
He also said he had done nothing wrong and had not tried to cover up any of the payments.
"There has been no concealment," Lord Black said. "And I am convinced that when all of the inquiries are over, it will be seen that what happened was essentially an inadvertancy and, in any case, does not imply any impropriety on my part."
Lord Black has been succeeded as CEO by Gordon Paris. Hollinger said the new management team is looking to reduce costs, beginning with the immediate grounding of two executive jets used by the company, which it may also sell.
Hollinger is expected to be broken up, and speculation is mounting over who will buy its prized newspaper assets, including the Daily and Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator magazine in the UK, the Chicago Sun-Times in the US and the Jerusalem Post.
The Financial Times reported that the Daily Mail & General Trust is looking at selling non-core assets to fund a takeover bid. Richard Desmond, who owns Express Newspaper, is also said to be in the running -- although both bids would be subject to a Competition Commission inquiry.
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