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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Leah Industries, Inc. (OTC-BB-LEAH) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RLM who wrote (1655)	3/15/1999 12:01:00 PM
From: Baton	Respond to of 2153

I spoke w/ Mr. Barger and Irwin Booke this morning. While there are certainly some questions about this affair, I do feel more assured that our chances of coming out of this in reasonable shape are quite good. I'll summarize our conversation with as much detail as I can remember. I had called Mr. Barger in Texas on Friday afternoon and left a message for him to return my call. I called him this morning at 6:45 Pacific time. The secretary answered and said "law offices". I said who I was, asked for Mr. Barger and was transfered. Mr. Barger said he had received my message and was planning to return my call. I asked him what his relationship was and he said that he was their Corporate Secretary. He said he helped with Press releases and legal advice. I asked him if he was a lawyer and he replied yes. He said he was not a paid employee, but he was a stock holder in LEAH. I assume that this means that he is paid per service or hourly like most lawyers. I asked him point blank if D&T were the auditors of LEAH. He said that when the SEC news came, he immediately called Mr. Booke and asked him the same question. Mr. Boock's reply to him was "of course they are". He said Mr. Booke sent him a copy of correspondence from D&T including a preliminary audit, and several faxes and letters. Mr. Barger said that if he had any doubt about the D&T relationship w/ LEAH, he would have resigned immediately. I asked him if he was writing a PR to assure shareholders and he said that would have to come from the company first. I asked him how he thought that this SEC "event" could have happened and he said that the stock price has fallen so far from it's $5 range that there must be some unhappy investors that have complained to the SEC. I thanked him for his time and hung up. Of course, as soon as I hung up, I thought of several other questions I wished I would have asked. I then called LEAH offices in Toronto. A female answered and said "Leah Industries". I asked to speak to Mr. Irwin Booke. She transfered mw to his voice mail and I left a message for him to call me at work. After I arrived at work, I received a call from Mr. Irwin Boock. I asked him to explain what happened. His response was consistant with what Andrew had said after talking to him on Friday afternoon. He seemed flabergasted that this had happened and really had no idea as to how it started. I asked him if D&T were in fact the auditors and he said that they were without a doubt. He said that the lawyers has sent the SEC a box of materials proving the relationship. He said that they have filed the form 10 and their #1 priority was getting their audit out as fast as possible. He said that D&T were very impressed with the operation overseas and made comments to him about the large number of employees ( I think I heard him say 2500) I asked him about the SEC ruling for MM's to not trade the stock until they had assurances of all of the listed requirements. He said that they would have this material before the suspension was lifted. I asked him about the BV of LEAH and said that there have been some pretty high numbers circulating. He said that unfortunately, someone says a number and then someone else increases it and so on and so on. All he would say abouth the book value is that "the numbers will be the numbers". I commented that if the SEC jumped the gun, perhaps they will try to make it up. This invoked a huge laugh from him and a response of"You think a government agency would try to rectify a mistake?" He referred to the Ken Starr investigation and implied that he did not expect an apology from the SEC. I told him that we needed all of the verified records before the suspension is lifted or that the stock would fall. he replied that if the numbers are there, the stock will rise. I told him that it was important to us that he returned our calls and answered our questions. He said he was trying to return all calls and messages. I thanked him for that and hung up. Obviously, I feel much better about our investment, even though much need to be resolved during the next two weeks. I'll post any other recollections later this evening as I need to get back to work. Baton