A Sydney-based mining company whose chief executive has been found guilty of sexual assault has been suspended from the stock exchange following revelations of a string of questionable dealings.
The ASX late yesterday suspended Condor Blanco Mines from trading after The Weekend Australian alerted it to a series of concerns, including the company apparently issuing tens of millions of shares to a related party without correct disclosure.
Condor Blanco Mines was formed in 2010 as a resources exploration company and has lost $22 million of investors’ funds. The miner handed down a $1.79m loss for the six months to December 31 and recording just $124,000 of remaining equity. Over the past year the explorer has undertaken a string of share issues to raise funds, with the asking price for the latest down to 1c per share.
Condor’s chief executive Glen Paul Darby, 35, was in May last year sentenced to two years’ jail for raping a female, who worked in the same building as him, in his office after the pair had gone out drinking together and returned to collect belongings.
He was granted bail by Judge Sorby in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court given the chances of a successful appeal — which has been heard but not yet delivered — gave rise to “exceptional circumstances”.
As part of its issuing new shares, Condor Blanco has on at least three occasions told the stock exchange it had issued shares which were being held in escrow by a company called ECM (Nominees).
ECM (Nominees) is a shelf company registered in Melbourne, however it is in no way connected and has nothing to do with Condor Blanco Mines. Another company called EMC (Nominees) is an arm of prominent Sydney law firm Eakin McCaffery Cox Lawyers, which is named as the lawyer for Condor Blanco Mines in its latest half-year reports.
The sole director of EMC (Nominees) is Eakin McCaffery Cox partner Michael Stafford, who until February 25 last year was also a director of Condor Blanco Mines.
When contacted on Thursday Mr Stafford said the correct holder of the shares was the company of which he was a director and the repeated incorrect naming of the company in lodged documents “must be a typo”.
Mr Stafford said matters regarding Condor Blanco Mining’s issuing of shares should be directed to the company. Mr Stafford said he did not consider EMC (Nominees) to be a related party of Condor Blanco Mines and he had not been involved in any wrongdoing.
Calls to Condor Blanco’s office were answered by voicemail in recent days and messages were not returned.
Under corporations law companies face strict regulation regarding the transferring of shares to related parties, allowing the practice only in certain circumstances and requiring full disclosure of any relationships.
On Tuesday, following a complaint from an investor, the Takeovers Panel placed an interim order on Condor Blanco Mines preventing it from trading the shares in a recent 50 million tranche. This did not prevent Condor Blanco Mines from being traded.
CDB Price at posting:
0.9¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
