NEW YORK (Reuters) - A US judge said yesterday that Bermuda-based Tyco International owed severance pay and interest of about $1.2 million to a former senior executive accused of participating in an accounting scandal at the diversified manufacturer.Richard Power, a former vice-president and division chief financial officer, sued the company for breach of contract and about $9 million in severance pay in 2002.

Power, who reported to now-jailed chief executive Dennis Kozlowski, claimed that in a phone conversation, the two agreed, in the event of his termination, Power would receive severance pay equal to the greater of $1.5 million or twice his salary and bonus in his last year of employment. Power was fired by Tyco's new management in 2002.

US District Judge Gerard Lynch, who heard the case in Manhattan, ruled yesterday that Tyco had, in fact, breached an oral severance agreement with Power.

Finding that neither Power nor Kozlowski were credible witnesses in the case, Lynch awarded Power $900,000 plus interest.

The figure is twice Powers' fiscal 2001 salary, but excluded the $4.2 million cash bonus he received that year.

"It would be extremely unusual for a severance agreement of the sort Power contends was made not to be committed to writing," Lynch wrote in the opinion.