Elton takes centre stage at London court

Elton 'has aversion to men in suits' London's High Court is told

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Pop superstar Sir Elton John took centre stage at London's High Court in a £20 million ($28 million) legal battle against the "men in suits."

Sir Elton is suing international accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers in a claim involving money which he alleges is missing from his business empire.

Dressed in a sombre grey suit, the 53-year-old pop legend took the witness stand in court 17 in London's drab, wood-panelled and grey stone Royal Courts of Justice.

He was giving evidence from the same witness box where pop stars Bruce Springsteen and Robbie Williams have also stood in previous entertainment industry legal battles.

The hearing is expected to last up to eight weeks and involves allegations against both the accountancy firm and Andrew Haydon, former managing director of management company John Reid Enterprises, which managed Sir Elton's affairs.

Sir Elton's lawyer, Gordon Pollock, has said that the star had an aversion to "men in suits" -- lawyers, accountants and others -- who badgered him about boring financial details.

Pollock said that rather than get involved in that side of the business, Sir Elton hired others to do the tedious administrative tasks.

He had, said Pollock, "trusted them implicitly" and paid them well for their services.

On Wednesday, Sir Elton was questioned about his dealings with the John Reid organisation and what its role was.

Pollock said Elton had expressed the view that John Reid's remuneration had been generous, but that the star had been prepared to pay for "an all-inclusive service."

Pollock asked what Sir Elton understood by an all-inclusive service.

Sir Elton said: "To me the all-inclusive service would be payments of agents' fees, looking after my recording career, running my companies, more or less everything. An all-encompassing service."

Pollock has claimed that PriceWaterhouseCoopers had regarded Sir Elton as "a nice little earner."

However, the judge has been told that the accountancy firm had looked carefully at the criticisms and had rejected them.

Their lawyer, Mark Hapgood, has told the court that the firm had acted for Sir Elton for 11 years and regretted that the dispute had arisen.

Sir Elton's personal claim is backed by three of his companies, W Bong Ltd, J Bondi Ltd and Happenspace Ltd.

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Elton John website
Elton John Photography Collection

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