MEDIA tycoon Robert Maxwell was barely dead when his sons and two

senior executives devised a plot to rescue the family business empire by

fraudulently dealing in employee pension fund shares valued at #22m, it

was claimed at the Old Bailey yesterday.

It was a desperate bid to save the Maxwell empire from collapse.

Kevin and Ian Maxwell, together with the two key executives, are

accused of conspiring to defraud pensioners following the death at sea

of the newspaper publisher who owned the Daily Mirror, Daily Record, and

Sunday Mail.

However, the employee pension funds had been swindled on an even

larger scale shortly before Maxwell's death, the jury was told.

The publisher, together with his youngest son Kevin, had already

conspired illegally to use pension fund assets worth #100m in an attempt

to stave off debtors, it was alleged.

The jury was told that Robert Maxwell was the driving and dominant

force in the group and over his company's pension schemes.

Mr Alan Suckling, QC, described the parlous state of companies run by

Maxwell in the second half of 1991.

A jury of seven women and five men heard that the companies controlled

by Maxwell were in debt and in increasing financial difficulties,

finding it harder and harder to pay their bills.

It was in these circumstances that pension fund shares were used

illegally as collateral as a means of raising loans to save the media

empire, the jury was told.

Mr Kevin Maxwell, 36, denies conspiring with his father to defraud the

trustees and beneficiaries of pension schemes by dishonestly putting at

risk 5,400,000 shares in the Israeli Scitex company. These shares, the

jury was told, were valued at #100m.

He, his brother Ian, 38, Mr Robert Bunn, 47, and Mr Larry

Trachtenberg, 42, are also accused of conspiring to defraud the pension

schemes by dishonestly putting at risk 25,196,228 shares in Teva

Pharmaceuticals, another Israeli company. These shares were valued at

#22m. All four plead not guilty to this charge.

Mr Suckling told the jury that Robert Maxwell and his son Kevin had

agreed to use the Scitex shares to help out companies owned directly or

indirectly by Maxwell interests.

''To that end, the Maxwells used the Scitex shares to meet the debts

of the privately-owned companies without paying the pension funds for

them,'' he said.

''This was dishonest and a fraud on the pensioners.''

In November 1991, after Maxwell's death, the position of the

publishing empire was desperate. All four defendants tried to keep the

companies from collapse by using Teva shares to raise funds from the

National Westminster Bank, prosecuting counsel told the jury. This too

was a fraud against pensioners.

Mr Ian Maxwell's wife was in court as the trial got under way. Mr

Kevin Maxwell's wife was not.

Mrs Maxwell heard Mr Suckling declare that while Mr Kevin Maxwell

worked under the dominant control of his father, he was nevertheless

closely involved in the financial affairs of the group. ''In the second

half of 1991, he dealt on a daily basis with the banks who lent to the

group,'' counsel said.

''Of the four defendants, he was the one most responsible for the

misuse of pension fund assets.''

Chartered accountant Robert Bunn, deputy managing director of finance

of the Robert Maxwell Group, although subservient to the Maxwell

brothers, was closely involved in the group's affairs.

Financial adviser Larry Trachtenberg, originally responsible for fund

management, later worked closely with Kevin Maxwell in an attempt to

deal with the group's financial setback.

Mr Ian Maxwell dealt mainly with publishing, marketing, and sales but

he attended crucial company meetings in the summer of 1991 and became

closely involved in coping with the crisis after his father's death.

The judge, Mr Justice Phillips, had begun proceedings by telling the

jury that there had been objectionable and unfair publicity surrounding

the case.

In particular, it had been suggested that the defendants should not be

receiving legal aid. The costs of the case would be very heavy but that

was not the fault of the defendants, he said.

Legal aid was not handed out to anyone who asked for it.

Mr Kevin Maxwell had been rendered bankrupt and both he and his

brother had demonstrated to the authorities they were unable to meet the

costs of their defence.

''In England, we do not have trial by media, we have trial by judge

and jury,'' the judge added.

The trial, which is expected to last six months, continues today.