Media Guardian

By Chris Tryhorn and John Hooper

February 10, 2006

The former head of advertising giant WPP's Italian operations has launched legal action against the company over his dismissal last month.

Marco Benatti, fired from his job as WPP's country manager in Italy on January 9, said today he also reserved the right to take action against the WPP chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell.

In a statement issued by his lawyers, Mr Benatti said he was considering extending the suit to include Sir Martin "due to the immense damage he has personally created by his repeated defamatory statements".

WPP has already filed a claim against Mr Benatti in the high court in London, seeking damages for a "breach" of their consultancy agreement.

Mr Benatti's move comes as Sir Martin orders an investigation into the way WPP's Italian arm did business.

WPP has hired three teams of lawyers and the detective agency Kroll to investigate what has been going on.

The investigation centres on Mediaclub, a media buying firm that WPP bought three years ago for £14m.

WPP now believes Mediaclub might be owned by Mr Benatti, who was paid £140,000 for helping to set up the deal.

Mr Benatti says he was merely a shareholder in a fund that had a stake - never exceeding 10% - in Mediaclub.

The dispute between Sir Martin and Mr Benatti has spilled over into FullSix, a marketing services company jointly controlled by WPP and his former employee's investment vehicle.

Last week, Mr Benatti launched a takeover bid for FullSix, which is 41% controlled by BluGroup and 26% owned by WPP.

Responding to Mr Benatti's move today, a WPP spokesman said: "The facts will speak for themselves and louder than any rhetoric which attempts to divert attention from the real issues."