THE European Shareholders of Bougainville Copper officially claim there is an ongoing fraudulent market manipulation scheme in the Bougainville Copper Limited shares.
Head of ESBC Axel G. Sturm has officially written to Marquet International to extend their research data base by adding Bougainville Copper Limited on their list. This equity is listed at the Australian Securities Exchange Sydney (BOC), New York and in Frankfurt.
Marquet International is one of the world’s renowned companies that provide services in Professional Investigations, Litigation Support, Due Diligence and Security Consulting Services and offer timely intelligence and analysis that allows their clients to assess strategic opportunities and mitigate corporate risks.
“Currently BOC shares face major share price manipulation that is supposedly originating in the United States of America,” Mr Sturm said.
J.P. Morgan Nominees Australia, a subsidiary of J.P.Morgan and Citicorp Nominees both based in New York City are holding approximately 15% of BOC shares in custody. As both companies were also involved in an unauthorised ADR Scheme a couple of years ago, they might also now be responsible for un-authorized lending of shares which they hold in custody,” he stated in his letter.
“Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL/BOC) is one of the biggest copper, gold, silver and molybdenum assets of the world, situated on the Bougainville (PNG). The operations were shut down in 1989 due to local unrest related to Bougainville’s struggle for independence. Our company is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto (54%), co-owner is the state of Papua New Guinea (19%). Only 27% of the remaining BOC shares are in free-float! This makes it easier to influence the share price and makes BOC shares even more vulnerable to fraudulent manipulation. This is what happens today,” he said.
“Although the Australian Securities Exchange repeatedly had been alerted by the ESBC to stop fraudulent trading practices in BOC shares, they do not appear to be interested to provide correct business at the ASX,” he said. As the European Shareholders of Bougainville Copper (ESBC) are only a small group of private investors (we own approximately 4%), we do not have a lot of means to fight against these fraudulent practices.”
The letter comes amidst the crucial time when Bougainville leaders led by President John Momis are now in the forefront to lead the negotiations again for the re-opening of the Panguna Mine.
Meanwhile, ESBC provided the paper with the list of Top 100 shareholders of BCL – which includes Rio Tinto Limited with 211,774,646 (52.80 %) shares and the Independent State of PNG with 76,430,809 (19.06 %).
Others include companies like JP Morgan Nominees Australia Limited, Citicorp Nominees Australia, National Nominees Ltd, Rio Tinto Base Metals Pty Ltd, HSBC Custody Nominees (Australia) Ltd, Persing Australia Nominees Pty Ltd, Westco Nominees Ltd, ABN AMRO Clearing Sydney Nominees Pty Ltd and the Noble Hope for Construction to name a few. The list also includes individuals and their families who are listed in the top 100 shareholders list.
BOC Price at posting:
59.0¢ Sentiment: ST Buy Disclosure: Held
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