Wow, didn't think I was being profane, ironic maybe, but not...

Wow, didn't think I was being profane, ironic maybe, but not profane.

Anyway, here we go again. This is for Ace & all the other impoverished shareholders of ADD who can no longer afford the paper edition of the AFR following their misguided investment in Mr Poole's ADD.

Following is the article from the AFR. Post publication, more embarrassing recorded phone calls involving Mr Poole and other characters currently the subject of the ICAC enquiry have emerged at proceedings today. Guess we'll have to wait till tomorrow for all the juicy bits.


"Out of the deep-fryer and into ICAC
PUBLISHED: 13 DEC 2012 21:30:19 | UPDATED: 14 DEC 2012 03:59:39

ANNE HYLAND
From mining companies to mobile phones and spray-on fat technology, Richard Poole has always been more entrepreneur than lawyer or investment banker, even though the latter is how he presents himself through boutique advisory firm ArthurPhillip.

Now he can add “key witness” to his résumé. On Thursday , Poole, 49, appeared before the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry that is investigating his involvement with mining companies White Energy and Cascade Coal.

The corruption watchdog is looking at whether Cascade was involved in a corrupt deal with the family of former Labor MP Eddie Obeid, whereby it acquired inside information that it would win a coal exploration licence in 2009.

The exploration licence was over land known as Mount Penny in central NSW that is owned by the Obeid family and its associates.

The inquiry is also investigating the Obeids’ involvement in two of the successful tenderers for coal licences, including Cascade.

Poole is in hot water because the inquiry has alleged he removed an interest of the Obeids in Cascade and did not disclose it to some Cascade investors, the Australian Stock Exchange or some White Energy directors.

Coal company White Energy had proposed to buy Cascade for $486 million in 2010, and the inquiry has heard the Obeids’ interest was removed to “sanitise” Cascade ahead of that transaction. The Obeid name is controversial in NSW.

Poole is one of seven wealthy businessmen associated with Cascade who have been caught up in the ICAC investigation, which even through an appearance before it inflicts reputational damage.

Giving evidence yesterday, Poole denied he was aware of the Obeids’ involvement in the mining venture until this year despite evidence to the contrary having been presented to the inquiry.

He tested the patience of Geoffrey Watson, SC, counsel assisting the inquiry, who described questioning him as “hard work”.

Poole, or “Digger” as he’s known to friends, grew up in Western Australia and went to school at Wesley College, where he was well liked and known for his effervescent personality and passion for rowing.

He would study law at the University of Western Australia, then practised with Clayton Utz until 1990, when he left to pursue entrepreneurial interests.

This started with Vos Industries, a company later rebadged Vostech, for which many in Perth business circles best remember Poole. The company had a technology it claimed would revolutionise global frying.

When Poole arrived in Sydney many years later, he would be known more for his directorship at electronics and mobile phone retailer Strathfield Group. Poole was also Strathfield’s chairman briefly before it was placed in administration in 2009.

POOLE’S GRAND AMBITIONS
But back to Vos, where Poole held different roles both as shareholder and managing director until 1999, when he was ousted.

Poole had grand ambitions for Vos and its patented Sprayfry technology. This hinged on oil being sprayed in fine droplets onto food such as donuts or chips that passed through the machine on a conveyor belt. It claimed to use half the oil and energy of existing deep-frying methods.

There was genuine interest in the Sprayfry technology from fast food chain Burger King and Japanese manufacturer Asahi Sosetsu but ultimately it came to nought.

In May 2001, Vos was in administration and $29 million had been lost on developing its frying systems.

The company wasn’t all about frying. In 1994, Vos took a stake in a Hong Kong trading group, China Merchant House, of which Poole was a director. China Merchant House was pitched as a vehicle to give Australian investors an opportunity to invest in China, specialising in textiles, footwear and gifts. Vos sold out of its holding in Merchant House two years later, but Poole stayed on as a director until 2007.

By 2002, Poole was back in Vos along with Perth brothers David, Roger and Gary Steinepreis. They took Vos off the administrator’s hands and used it as a launch pad for an animal health biotech outfit called Imugene.

THE ARTHURPHILLIP SHINGLE
In the same year, Poole would open his advisory business, ArthurPhillip, in Sydney.

On its website, ArthurPhillip says it has offices in Jakarta, Singapore and Houston. However, calls to the Asian offices yielded only personal voicemail messages and the Houston number is for Entrust, a Texas residential electricity supplier. Entrust was a company ArthurPhillip advised.

Since hanging out his ArthurPhillip shingle, Poole has advised a number of companies in the resources and energy sector and he often has taken on a board role at those business, such as Adavale Resources, Resources & Energy Group, Australian Power & Gas. He was also a director of Tiaro Coal.

It wasn’t until 2008 that Poole became involved in Cascade Coal. He used EME Events, a shelf company owned by his advisory firm, to acquire coal exploration licences in Victoria and NSW. EME was renamed Cascade Coal.

By October 2010, Cascade had been granted an exploration licence for Mount Penny.

On Cascade’s board were a host of wealthy businessmen, among them John Atkinson, who had been White Energy’s chief executive. Poole knew Atkinson’s wife from university and this connection would lead Poole to undertake advisory work for White Energy.

In November 2010, White Energy would propose to buy Cascade for $486 million, a hefty price tag for an exploration licence. By April the following year, however, the deal had fallen through amid shareholder discontent over the transaction – including the fact that Cascade and White Energy had three directors and five shareholders in common.

The seven shareholders in Cascade stood to profit handsomely from the deal, with some poised to receive up to $60 million in shares.

OBEIDS’ INVOLVEMENT HIDDEN
The inquiry has heard the Obeids had a 25 per cent stake in a mining venture with Cascade that was known as the Coal & Minerals Group.

In October 2010, the Obeids agreed to sell that stake, which involved the land they owned at Mount Penny, for $60 million.

In November 2010, Cascade undertook a raising of $28 million from new investors who had asked if there was any involvement by the Obeids, given recent press reports. Some of these investors were told there wasn’t. But ICAC has heard that $28 million was indeed paid to the Obeids through CMG, a company set up by Poole. The inquiry has heard the transfer of some money that eventually went to the Obeids was made through the bank account of Poole’s wife Amanda, a former air steward. The inquiry heard that Amanda Poole last financial year had taxable income of $6 million even though she doesn’t work.

The money received by CMG went to South East Investment Group, a shelf company whose sole director and shareholder was the Obeids’ solicitor, Sevag Chalabian.

The inquiry has heard this was the first instalment of the $60 million buyout of the Obeids’ interest. The other half of the money has not been paid and the family effectively owns a 9.3 per cent stake in Cascade. The inquiry has heard that the Obeid family’s stake in the CMG venture had been kept secret because of their “controversial” name.

The connection had nearly been revealed by James McGuigan, an employee of Poole, who in a draft document set out who was involved in the joint mining venture.

Poole had warned McGuigan in an email: “Jimmy, what are you thinking? You can’t say this.” James is the son of John McGuigan a Cascade director.

Earlier, Obeid solicitor Sevag Chalabian had told the inquiry that Poole had urged him to hide the Obeids’ interest in the coal venture.

WHIFF OF CORRUPTION
The inquiry heard Poole was concerned a “whiff of corruption” surrounded the deal and he didn’t want people to think that Cascade’s coal exploration licence was “corruptly obtained”.

When White Energy director Graham Cubbin, who led an independent board committee to assess the $486 million deal between Cascade and White Energy, had a meeting with Poole in March 2011 about the deal, he was concerned about possible involvement of the Obeids. And also raised this as an issue.

A lawyer’s file note records that in that meeting, Poole told Cubbin he was “not aware of any payments having been made to Eddie Obeid or any entities associated with him”.

Poole will be grilled on this as well as his role in what may be alleged to be dummy expressions of interest in the coal exploration licence. The inquiry heard from James McGuigan that he had submitted an expression of interest as the “exploration manager” of a private company, Redman Mining, to the Department of Primary Industries, for the Mount Penny coal exploration licence. “I made the title up,” McGuigan admitted to ICAC. Poole was a director of Redman Mining and controlled another three companies that also wrote letters to the department.

Poole’s deep-fryer days seem far from over."