Leighton calls in legal eagle to fight bribe claim LEIGHTON chairman Bob Humphris and director Bob Seidler have hired a leading barrister to fight accusations they failed to act on bribery allegations in Iraq as the company's former chief executive Wal King yesterday ramped up efforts to clear his name over the affair. It is understood Mr Humphris and Mr Seidler have engaged Bruce McClintock QC to investigate potential defamation action against Fairfax Media after being named last week for allegedly failing to "raise the alarm" about a suspicious $80 million construction subcontract in Iraq when they were both directors of Leighton International. It comes as Mr King, through his lawyers Atanaskovic Hartnell, yesterday wrote for the second time in five days to Fairfax Media demanding an apology for reports alleging he approved a bribe to secure the Iraqi contract. The reports cited a handwritten note allegedly written by acting chief executive David Stewart in November 2010 that in turn alleged Mr King had approved $42m in kickbacks to a firm in Monaco nominated by Iraqi officials for a $750m oil pipeline contract. Mr King's latest multi-paged letter was sent after Fairfax rejected his initial request for an apology in a letter sent last Friday. Yesterday's letter is said to be far more detailed than the first one and was reviewed on Monday by prominent defamation lawyer Richard McHugh SC. It demands Fairfax produce more evidence to justify its claims against Mr King. I categorically deny prior knowledge of corrupt practices in Iraq. Today a letter has been sent by my lawyers to Fairfax repudiating in the strongest possible terms the allegations. I am not prepared to make any further comment at this stage," Mr King told The Australian yesterday. Yesterday's letter repeats a warning from Mr King that he intends to pursue defamation against the publisher unless it withdraws the allegations and prints apologies in all its metropolitan mastheads. It makes no reference to reports that Mr King paid back $40,000 for an unauthorised expense claim, which was made at the behest of Spanish construction giant ACS, which controls Leighton's majority shareholder Hochtief. Mr King has not been interviewed by the Australian Federal Police about the Iraq claims. Neither has Leighton International's former managing director David Savage, currently in Europe. It is alleged Mr Savage had revealed during a meeting with Mr Stewart in 2010 that he and Mr King knew the $42m kickback was paid. Mr Savage yesterday stepped down as a non-executive director at British engineering group Keller, which the firm's chairman Roy Franklin said would allow him to "focus on addressing these allegations and avoid any distraction to Keller." Mr Savage still holds board seats at several other companies including KazaX Minerals, a Kazakhstan-based minerals exploration group listed in Toronto, and Mudajaya Corporation. Mr Stewart also stepped down from his role as chief executive of Laing O'Rourke's Australian construction business so he could focus on addressing the allegations and avoid hurting the firm's image, the company said. Leighton shares erased much of Monday's gains yesterday, closing 33c lower at $16.89.