Bre-X player's lawyers give
RCMP the results of lie
detector test
Bertrand Marotte
The Ottawa Citizen
TORONTO -- Lawyers for John
Felderhof, the man at the centre of the
Bre-X Minerals scandal, have taken the
unusual step of sending to the RCMP
results of a lie-detector test that claim their
client is innocent of any wrongdoing in the
$6-billion Busang gold fraud.
"We had it done for John's benefit. There has been a lot of innuendo and
baseless speculation to date," said Andrius Kontrimas, a lawyer at the
Houston firm of Jenkins & Gilchrist. A copy of the results was sent to the
RCMP's commercial crime unit in Calgary.
Mr. Felderhof, a former vice-chairman of Bre-X who remains secluded
at his $3-million estate in the Cayman Islands, issued a lengthy statement
in July saying he had nothing to do with the fraud, had no knowledge of it
and had no reason to suspect any foul play.
Mr. Kontrimas said the test results "should put to rest any speculation
about John having any knowledge about tampering" at the Busang gold
discovery in Indonesia.
However, Calgary RCMP spokeswoman Deleen Schoff said the copy
of the results "does not affect our investigation in any way."
"It's interesting. We will be looking at it," said Ms. Schoff. Polygraphs
aren't admissible in Canadian courts .
The Mounties have a 10-member team probing the fiasco and have yet
to request an interview with Mr. Felderhof, she said. "I'm sure at some
point we will probably request an interview with Mr. Felderhof."
Mr. Felderhof has refused to talk to a team of private investigators hired
by his former boss, Bre-X founder and chairman David Walsh.
Recent reports said that Bre-X geologist Michael de Guzman was
behind the salting of gold samples.
Mr. de Guzman is believed to have killed himself by jumping from a
helicopter March 19, soon after the hoax began to unravel.
The computerized polygraph test, conducted by Galianos Polygraphe
Expert Inc. in Montreal, was conducted Aug. 20 in a conference room at
aGeorgetown, Grand Cayman hotel. According to the report, signed by
John Galianos, Mr. Felderhof answered "No" to a series of questions
relating to tampering with the Busang core samples of gold, including
"Did you conspire with anyone to tamper with the Busang core
samples?" and "Are you lying to me when you say that you did not know
that there was tampering with Busang core samples?"
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