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Gold/Mining/Energy : BRE-X, Indonesia, Ashanti Goldfields, Strong Companies. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Phil Jones who wrote (27703)	2/2/1998 12:18:00 PM
From: alan holman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28369

Saturday, January 31, 1998 Nesbitt motion on Bre-X suit 'audacious,' says lawyer By SANDRA RUBIN The Financial Post Motions by Nesbitt Burns Inc. and others to have a Bre-X Minerals Ltd. class action suit against them thrown out on questions of law are "remarkably audacious," according to a court filing Friday. The blockbuster U.S. class action is planning to include any Canadian investors wishing to take part. A certification hearing will be held in Texas on Feb. 13. In the latest filing, lead lawyer Paul Yetter writes a scathing indictment of Nesbitt's motion to have the case dismissed on grounds it did nothing wrong. "Nesbitt cannot accept the reality of the situation," he says. "It insists its extraordinary lapses must be excused. It says it's blameless because 'no one else was able to' uncover the fraud; all it did was 'not discover what nobody else discovered.' "Of course, that is untrue. The Bre-X fraud was discovered, easily, by Freeport-[McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.] and Strathcona [Minerals Services]. Uncorrupted by the hype surrounding Bre-X and Bresea, they saw the amateurish fraud immediately, once they reviewed information that had long been known by the [principals], but not the investing public. Unfortunately, they came on the scene too late to warn the thousands of class members who lost billions in the worthless stock." Yetter also filed arguments on the Canada-U.S. question, including a legal opinion from retired Ontario Appeals Court judge Lloyd Houlden, who says any judgment in Texas would be enforceable under Canadian law. "It is clear under Canadian law that a Canadian litigant in the Texas litigation who submitted ... to the jurisdiction of the Texas courts would be bound in Canada by a Texas judgment," said Houlden, who presided over some of Canada's biggest restructurings and bankruptcies. "It is also clear that such a Texas judgment for a definite sum of money ... would be enforceable in Canada." Yetter also attacks Nesbitt's motives in asking the case be dismissed on the grounds it's a Canadian firm, and the Texas court is the wrong jurisdiction. He says Nesbitt is a "worldwide stock brokerage and investment banking firm, with offices in Texas." "Nesbitt's concern is not convenience," he says. "Like its co-defendants, Nesbitt's fervent wish is to avoid responsibility under U.S. securities laws ... in effect, to deny victimized investors meaningful remedies."