Fugitive businessman Tony Duggan is to fight Capital G which his suing him over the alleged non-payment of a $900,000 loan.

The former nightclub owner, who has not been seen in Bermuda since he disappeared in his catamaran Assegai in July 2001, had until yesterday to be represented in court to contest the action.

Mr. Duggan has instructed his lawyer Mark Diel, of Marshall, Diel and Myers, that he will fight the writ.

Mr. Diel told The Royal Gazette yesterday: "We have notified the court that we are acting for him and we have filed a defence. He will be contesting it."

When asked where the Scottish businessman is hiding, Mr. Diel said:"I don't know."

And when The Royal Gazette asked how he could communicate with his client if he didn't know where he was, Mr. Diel said: "That's a matter of client-attorney privilege but I can say it is predominantly by email."

Justin Williams, lawyer for Capital G, declined to comment yesterday.

Mr. Duggan slipped out of Bermuda following the collapse of his business Precision-Engineering Technical Company, with debts of more than $1 million.

Another company, Office Supplies, also went bust with substantial debts.

Capital G will now have to apply for summary judgement to get the Supreme Court to order Mr. Duggan to repay the $893,683 he allegedly owes.

Should it win, it will be able to apply for an order freezing the elusive businessman's assets worldwide, and ask for it to be enforced in foreign countries where Mr. Duggan may have property and money.

Lawyers for Capital G pursuing Mr. Duggan took out a newspaper advert in his native Scotland last week warning him about the Capital G debt.

The advert, filed by Bermuda lawyers Cox Hallett Wilkinson, listed Mr. Duggan's address as the isolated village of Meikleour in Perthshire.

A reporter for the Glasgow-based Herald newspaper called the house, where a John and Violet Drummond are listed on the voters' roll, but Mrs. Drummond denied any knowledge of Mr. Duggan.

The newspaper was unable to get any reply when it called at a flat in Edinburgh which Mr. Duggan is understood to own.

The Bank of Bermuda has already been granted an order against Mr. Duggan for $528,651, and a worldwide freeze on his assets.