An open-and-shut case m’lud: the warehouse was full of obsolete computers that still had a high value in the troubled company’s books, it was fully insured, and there were these suspicious characters seen hanging around, not to mention a couple of small, unexplained fires that had broken out earlier… Compagnie des Machines Bull SA, already investigating the strange disappearance of lorryloads of computers intended for scrap, which mysteriously reappeared on the market, now faces accusations of arson from its former insurer, Allendale Mutual Insurance Co of Johnston, Rhode Island, which charges that employees or associates of the company caused a towering conflagration in June 1991 which destroyed $100m of Zenith Data Systems inventory at its warehouse in Seclin, near Lille, northern France; according to the Wall Street Journal, The fire was more than a $200m benefit to Bull if they had recovered the insurance, Allendale alleges in pre-trial court filings, because Bull lost no sales as a result but could claim $100m of insurance, and could access another $119m of credits under arrangements with its major banks; Bull says the case has already been dismissed in the French courts and it will go the same way in Chicago.
