Jury Told of Changes in Tyco’s Loan Program

The former treasurer of Tyco International Ltd. told a New York jury Tuesday that L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz made unauthorized changes to loan programs the two men are accused of plundering when they ran the company.

Kozlowski, the former chief executive, and Swartz, who was chief financial officer, didn’t get approval from the board of directors to make changes in loan and relocation programs for top executives, Barbara Miller testified. Miller was Tyco’s treasurer until Kozlowski fired her in 1998.

Kozlowski and Swartz are on trial in Manhattan on charges they stole $170 million from the company by corrupting Tyco loan programs.

The two men in 1995 added perks to the relocation program that allowed executives moving to Tyco’s new corporate headquarters in New York to buy more than one house with money lent by the company, Miller said.

Kozlowski and Swartz are accused of raiding the loan programs, hiding bonus payments and secretly arranging for the forgiveness of loans.