If there is one thing any company dreads, it is the whiff of corruption. This is especially so for a public group whose well-being depends in large part on the confidence it can inspire in investors. Imagine then, how Marlborough International, the Irish-based recruitment agency, felt when it emerged that a US online auction group with which it was in takeover discussions was suspended from the New York market and had its chief executive arrested.

And this was not a low-key case that might go away. E-Pawn's boss, Mr Eli Liebowitz, was one of 120 people arrested by FBI agents in the US in the largest case of its kind, involving five leading Mafia families. Now there's publicity you could live without.

Marlborough has been quick to sever all links with E-Pawn and to assert it was completely unaware of the allegations during its dealings with the company.