Ballard files $1-million suit over phantom goods
Ballard Power Systems Inc BLD
Shares issued 105,587,874 Jan 17 close $16.52
Fri 17 Jan 2003 Street Wire
by Brent Mudry
In a rather embarrassing suit, fuel cell giant Ballard Power Systems claims
it was conned by some Vancouver-area machine shop operators into paying
$1-million for non-existent machined goods. In an endorsed writ of summons
filed Thursday in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Ballard seeks
unspecified damages against Nolito Domingo and his company, including
punitive and aggravated damages.
The named defendants are Mr. Domingo, his wife Maria Domingo and his
company Sharp-Rite Machining & Supply Ltd., all of North Vancouver, Ace
Machine Shop Ltd. of Surrey, and Demetrio Libonao and Bella Libonao, both
of Vancouver. A full statement of claim has not yet been filed by lawyer
Michael Tourigny of Lang Michener. The allegations in the suit have not yet
been proven in court and no statements of defence have yet been filed. The
suit alleges Mr. Domingo fraudulently conveyed his interest in a North
Vancouver property on Dec. 9 to his wife.
The suit claims that Ballard is the victim of a conspiracy between October,
1999, and October, 2002, in which it was induced to pay $750,000 to
Sharp-Rite and $250,000 to Ace Machine "for the manufacture and delivery of
various machined goods, which in fact were not delivered to or received by
the plaintiff." "The fraud was committed by the said defendants through the
falsification of documents, forgery of signatures and further deceits and
misrepresentations ... that various machined goods had been manufactured
and delivered ... when in fact ... they were not," states the suit.
The suit offers no details of what the purported machined goods were,
whether Ballard ordered them, how Ballard noticed the goods never arrived,
and when and how Ballard twigged onto the alleged conspiracy. |
