ANGRY workers sacked without pay and redundancy packages at a Newport factory are accusing the Welsh Develo-ment Agency of precipitating a withdrawal of the bank loans that led to the company's collapse.

But the WDA describes the claims as nonsense and says it did everything possible to prevent the company going into receivership.

Earlier this year, ESM, pictured, made 235 redundant at its Duffryn semiconductor factory, when it ran into financial difficulties and had to call in the receivers. Company statements issued at the time blamed the crisis on the withdrawal of crucial loans from its German bankers.

But ESM workers currently bringing cases against the former company - now owned by International Rectifier - at industrial tribunals in Cardiff say the sequence of events revealed in papers prepared for the hearings is crucial.

They claim that the WDA had withdrawn support BEFORE the German bankers and that this withdrawal had come as a surprise to the company.

The facts are related in a deposition made by Roger Hale, a chartered accountant at Price waterhouse Coopers, who eventually became receivers of the company and found a buyer for it.

The WDA says Mr Hale's statements are misleading.

In his report to the tribunal, Mr Hale says he is aware of the events towards the end of last year that led to the appointment of PwC and that the financial position of ESM had been precarious.

He says ESM was heavily reliant on further support from the WDA and from its shareholders and funders such as Apax (the majority shareholder and investor) and German bankers BHF.

"By December 20, the WDA had withdrawn its support, the shareholders had confirmed that no further funds were available and there was little prospect of internal generation of funds through asset disposal," says Mr Hale.

"The withdrawal of support by the WDA was quite sudden and unexpected - the directors had previously been led to believe that this support would continue."

A WDA spokesman said Mr Hale's statement is misleading.

"We worked closely for more than six months with the management team and the bankers to try to find a solution to the financial problems but failed," he said. "We did not withdraw."

One of the sacked ESM workers said: "If the WDA couldn't back us, the way was open for the private bankers to pull out without so much as a by-your-leave," he said.

"As a result, over 230 workers lost their jobs. But no-one has been rushing forward with help, support and offers of re-training as they have at Llanwern and Ebbw Vale steelworks."

Other workers, who do not wish to be named in case it jeopardises their chances of finding alternative work, said the 235 sacked at ESM had been effectively abandoned.

"We now see calls for Cardiff to have special treatment like Ebbw Vale's because the ASW steelworks there is to close," one said. "We feel sorry for the ASW workers because we know what they are going through but this is just sick."

Investigations by the Argus this year revealed that ESM owed its sacked workers £246,000 in unpaid wages and over £500,000 in employer contributions to their pension fund