A former bank clerk who became a director of Pudong Development Holdings is suing the firm for allegedly failing to allow him to exercise an option to purchase 20 million shares. Koo Tai-ne was hired by Pudong's main director and shareholder, Tong Cun-lin, as a general manager of Tomson Development Taipei in 1982 . Mr Tong established Tomson Pacific in 1990 and the name was later changed to Pudong Development Holdings. In June last year, Mr Koo was appointed a director of Pudong and switched to the Shanghai office as general manager. The writ says Pudong established an employee share option scheme in October 1990. Mr Koo claims he was granted an option to subscribe for 20 million shares at $1.05 a share in September last year. When he tried to exercise the option on September 15 this year, he was told his request had been referred for legal advice. The company told him on October 3 that his request to exercise his option was denied, the writ said. Mr Koo is asking that the court rule he is entitled to the shares and to any loss caused by the refusal to allow him to buy them earlier.