Pocklington pushed for $13M
Alexandra Zabjek, edmontonjournal.com
Published: Friday, November 06, 2009
EDMONTON - The Alberta government is continuing its efforts to recoup a 21-year-old loan to Peter Pocklington it says now totals almost $13 million and is accumulating $884 per day in interest, according to recently filed court documents.
The former Edmonton Oilers owner declared bankruptcy in the United States last year. He is slated to go to trial in January on charges of trying to hide assets from a federal bankruptcy court.
The provincial government is now seeking to renew a judgment the courts previously issued ordering Pocklington to repay a 1988 loan associated with his Gainers hog-processing plant.
The province seized the plant in 1989 after the company defaulted on a $400,000 loan payment.
According to an affidavit signed by an assistant deputy finance minister, Pocklington was ordered to pay the government$2 million in April 2000, plus $5 million in interest.
Pocklington appealed the decision on the interest, but in 2007 the Court of Queen's Bench ordered Pocklington to pay $10,147,462.70 in interest, plus legal costs.
As of Oct. 9, Pocklington owed the government almost $13 million, according to the affidavit, and interest is building up at a rate of $884 per day.
The government says it has received about $600,000 from Pocklington for the case, money that was raised through the sale of his home.
David Dear, a spokesman for Alberta Justice, said the government is pursuing the matter now because the original judgment is set to expire next April.
"This is a way to renew that, to maintain our ability to collect from Mr. Pocklington," Dear said. "It's standard legal practice to renew a judgment ahead of time."
But Dear would not speculate on what further steps the government is considering.
"All we could appropriately say at this point is that we continue to take all reasonable steps to collect from Mr. Pocklington."
In a recent interview, Pocklington said he never saw the $2 million in loan money.
He says he is upset the Alberta government is now after him personally for the loan to his bankrupt meat-packing company and for a massive amount of interest.
"The$2 million was money I never got," he said. "That money went to Gainers."
He said the government sued him a decade later for the full amount of the loan and got a summary judgment against him without him being present in the courtroom.
"They went back 10 years later and got a $10.5 million judgment on interest on the $2 million I never got."
Pocklington blames former Premier Don Getty for Gainers demise, saying Getty reneged on a deal to get rid of the hog marketing board.
Pocklington, a former car dealer, built an empire of food and entertainment companies, and at one point owned three Edmonton sports teams. He moved to the U.S. in 2002.
The case will go to court Nov. 25.
azabjek@thejournal.canwest.com
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