An employee with the S.C. Ports Authority has returned to work after an investigation into claims that he sought a loan from the head of a company that did business with the port.

The agency took an unspecified disciplinary action against the midlevel manager after a five-week investigation, Ports Authority spokesman Byron Miller said.

In a 2001 e-mail, the Ports Authority employee asked for a $150,000 to $175,000 loan from Warren Lasch, head of Charleston International Ports LLC.

Charleston International was under contract with the Ports Authority to run a terminal on the former Charleston Naval Base. The Ports Authority and the company are involved in a legal dispute over the terminal.

The employee did not receive a loan, but the Ports Authority learned of the incident last month and put the employee on leave.

The agency cannot discuss specific personnel matters, but it took disciplinary action, Miller said. The Ports Authority does not condone the conduct, he said.

"It was not the most appropriate request to make," Miller said. "But there was never any evidence that an economic benefit was received for the request."

The Ports Authority learned of the incident after being forwarded a copy of the e-mail by The State.

Charleston International did not file a complaint or cooperate with the investigation, according to the Ports Authority.

The company did not want to make an issue of the loan request, said Richard Quinn Sr., a spokesman for Charleston International. The incident, though, is part of a pattern of problems at the Ports Authority, he said.

The relationship between the two groups remains strained.

In April, the Ports Authority ended a long-term contract with Charleston International to run the terminal on the former Charleston Naval Base.

An audit conducted for the Ports Authority said the company did not obtain proper approval for some transactions and used company money for Lasch's benefit.

Charleston International says the contract was improperly cut short and that neither the company nor Lasch did anything wrong.

The Ports Authority controls the facility, but Charleston International says it should continue running the site until an arbitration panel rules on the conflict.