Conrad Black , his former deputy David Radler and Richard Perle, a member of Hollinger International’s executive committee, are already facing an avalanche of civil lawsuits and allegations for alleged looting of Hollinger International Inc.

Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) accuses former media tycoons of fraudulently taking $85m (£46m) from newspaper group Hollinger International which they controlled in the period between 1994 and 2003. Recently the government confirmed that a criminal investigation was under way. "We don’t believe that the company has engaged in any criminal conduct," said Hollinger Inc’s lawyer Mr Eimer. U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning in Chicago on March 14 denied a request by Black and his associates to dismiss Hollinger’s suit.

In a separate pending civil lawsuit, Hollinger International claims Lord Black and his co-operators for looting more than $400 million from the illegal transactions.

Perle, a former chairman of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board under President Bush, faces much more trouble with law-enforcement agencies. He is not only in one boat with Black and Radler, forced to respond to charges from SEC and Hollinger International officials, but also had to reveal some black manipulations in the government. In 2003, members of Congress questioned why Perle set up an investment fund in homeland-security technology after the Sept. 11, 2001 and took consulting jobs from other companies while serving as Pentagon’s chairman.

``I was blown away by it,’’ was Perle’s expressive remark.