Friday, January 9, 1998
Judge orders release of secret Bre-X report
By CLAUDIA CATTANEO
Calgary Bureau Chief The Financial Post
An Alberta court has ordered the release of a confidential report that could
shed further light on the Bre-X Minerals Ltd. fraud.
Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Robert Cairns also allowed the
disbursement of $100,000 for operating costs and legal fees for Bro-X, Bre-X's sister company, until
Bro-X can organize a shareholders meeting and decide on its future.
The court is still holding $723,000 in seized Bro-X assets.
Former Bre-X president David Walsh is a direct and indirect shareholder in Bro-X.
Cairns allowed the unrestricted release by Bre-X's bankruptcy trustee of a report by Forensic
Investigative Associates. The report was commissioned by Bre-X. It includes a 430-page master
document and 17 volumes of backup information.
It will be put on the Internet when it's ready for distribution in the next one to two weeks, said Larry
Robinson, lawyer for Bre-X bankruptcy trustee Deloitte & Touche Inc.
Bre-X officials had wanted the document to remain confidential. It is believed to contain some details
concerning the death of geologist Michael de Guzman, as well as interviews with witnesses.
Portions of the $2-million report were made public in the fall. They exonerated Bre-X president David
Walsh from wrongdoing, and put the blame on de Guzman.
FIA was commissioned to investigate what happened at the Busang gold site in Indonesia and who
knew about the salting of samples. FIA also investigated de Guzman's death. He died shortly before
the fraud was exposed last April.
The court also decided yesterday to examine officials from investment dealer Nesbitt Burns Inc.
Outside the courtroom, Ross Nelson, senior vice-president of Deloitte & Touche, said he wants more
information from Nesbitt on whether Bre-X insiders filed all necessary documentation with securities
commissions after they traded company stock.
Investigations of insider trading are being conducted by the Ontario Securities Commission and the
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.
Investors lost billions when Bre-X's major asset, the Busang gold deposit in Indonesia, was found to
be a fraud last spring.
Nelson said 3,000 to 4,000 people have registered claims in the bankruptcy. Most are small
Canadian investors, along with U.S. and other foreign residents.
The claims range from as little as a few hundred dollars to US$1 million. |
