Seven West Media probe set to clear Tim Worner as director quits

Seven boss Tim Worner is expected to be cleared of all allegations of wrongdoing over his affair with an ex-employee.

Seven West Media boss Tim Worner. Picture: David Geraghty

Embattled Seven West Media boss Tim Worner is expected to avoid accusations of wrongdoing in his affair with a former employee when the TV broadcaster releases the findings of an independent investigation into the sex scandal.

The Australian understands the findings of the report — which has been compiled by law firm Allens and was delivered to Seven’s board last night — could be released as early as this morning and has been unable to find evidence to support the main claims made by Mr Worner’s former lover Amber Harrison.

Ms Harrison has made damn­ing allegations against Mr ­Worner that include drug-taking on company time, unauthorised credit­-card expenditure and claims management tried to sil­ence her accusations to protect Seven’s chief executive. Seven previously has said Ms Harrison’s claims contained “wide-­ranging inaccuracies and false statements”.

The imminent release of the report comes after Seven West Media non-executive director and corporate law expert Sheila McGregor suddenly resigned from the company yesterday.

Ms McGregor is a respected commercial law expert and partner at Gilbert + Tobin, where she has advised senior management and boards of some of Australia’s leading companies on litigation and regulatory strategy.

She is one of two female ­directors on the Seven West board alongside venture capitalist and technology expert Michelle Deaker. Ms McGregor is also one of three directors to have joined the Seven board in 2015 after Mr Worner’s affair was divulged to the board and a settlement ­devised to keep Ms Harrison quiet.

The other two directors to join after that are former iiNet founder and chief executive ­Michael Malone and former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett.

Sources close to the Seven board told The Australian that Ms McGregor had become increasingly concerned about the company’s corporate governance and the handling of the affair since it was made public in late December.

Seven’s board, led by chairman Kerry Stokes, has continued to back Mr Worner, despite mounting pressure on the company to take action.

Ms McGregor’s resignation was announced late yesterday afternoon in a tersely worded, three-sentence statement that gave no reason for her departure.

“The company thanks Ms McGregor for her service to the board and wishes her well for the future,” the statement said.

Her resignation comes just six weeks after Mr Worner’s sex scandal was made public.

Mr Worner apologised to the board in 2014 when the affair was reported to Seven’s human resources department. It is understood he contributed $100,000 from his salary towards a confidential payout to Ms Harrison.

Seven has defended its conduct and accused Ms Harrison of misusing her credit card.

Four other women named by Ms Harrison as allegedly having had affairs with Mr Worner have issued categorical denials of any relationships. Ms Harrison, who was made redundant by Seven in 2014, was investigated by the network for alleged misuse of her corporate credit card. The ­investigation, carried out by ­Deloitte, examined expenses on hers and another employee’s cards totalling $260,000.

Seven has rejected Ms Harrison’s claims that the investigation was conducted in an attempt to pressure her to resign.

Seven has repeatedly declined to release the terms of reference of the Allens inquiry but promised it would “establish all of the facts so as to confirm that all necessary matters have been and were taken into account”.

Mr Worner has admitted to an “inappropriate consensual sexual relationship”.