THE AUTHORITIES BETTER GET ALL THE ASSETS OF WALSH AND ALL OTHER COMPANY DIRECTORS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! November 7, 1997
CEO resigns from Canada's bankrupt
Bre-X
CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 7 (Reuters) - A dark chapter in Canada's mining industry closed on
Friday when David Walsh and his lieutenant Steve McAnulty resigned as officers and directors of
now-bankrupt gold explorer Bre-X Minerals Ltd.
Walsh was chairman and chief executive and McAnulty vice-president of Calgary-based Bre-X,
whose Indonesian gold property, once touted as the world's richest, was revealed to be an
unprecedented fraud last spring.
Accounting firm Deloitte & Touche Inc. was appointed trustee of Bre-X's assets in a Calgary court
hearing on Wednesday.
Lawyers representing some of the thousands of investors suing Bre-X had also tried to drive its
parent company, Bresea Resources Ltd., into bankruptcy as well.
An Alberta judge granted the motion, but it was quickly stayed pending an appeal by the company's
lawyers. Bresea, which owned 23.5 percent of Bre-X, still has about C$26 million ($19 million) in
cash, but the money is controlled by the court.
It also owns various other assets including the squat, brown Calgary office building where Walsh
controlled his stable of once-high-flying companies.
Deloitte & Touche said on Friday it was actively pursuing the recovery of Bre-X's assets "for the
maximum benefit to creditors."
The accounting firm, which estimated the disgraced company could have more than 50,000 creditors
around the globe, said it planned to place ads in newspapers and set up a Web site and toll-free
telephone number to aid creditors in registering claims and getting information.
An independent investigator funded by Bre-X reported in October that the company's chief
geologist, Michael de Guzman, was a key figure in the salting operation, in which foreign sources of
gold were added to drill samples to give the impression of stungingly rich reserves.
De Guzman died in March after plunging from a helicopter into the Indonesian jungle in an apparent
suicide while en route to Bre-X's Busang site.
Canadian Mounties have also been conducting an epic investigation into the crime but have yet to
announce conclusions or lay charges.
Walsh has repeatedly denied any involvement in the salting operation. WHAT HAS THE RCMP DONE LATELY WITH THIS CASE ??? |
