PALACE Resources has defended its decision to appoint former Griffin Coal senior executive Frederik Suhren as its new managing director.
This is even though Mr Suhrem is facing trial on charges of aggravated burglary.
The Australian has learnt that Mr Suhren will appear in Perth Magistrates Court on December 14 for a trial allocation date on the charges, which he is strongly defending.
A District Court trial will start next year once Mr Suhren, who has prior links to lobbyists Julian Grill and Brian Burke, has settled into the MD's chair at Palace.
Mr Suhren's co-accused is Albanian-born construction company director Edmondo Margjini.
Mr Suhren, 32, and Mr Margjini, 31, will face trial together.
Mr Suhren's lawyer, Terry Dobson, said his client had pleaded not guilty and denied any involvement in the burglary.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. Related Coverage D-Day for cash claim by 50 Allco staff The Australian, 27 Oct 2010 Santos in European hybrid hike The Australian, 14 Oct 2010 'Virgin' actor guilty of attempted murder Adelaide Now, 17 Sep 2010 Ex-Premier not guilty, slams watchdog Herald Sun, 10 May 2010 Burke 'tried to sneak policy changes in' Perth Now, 20 Apr 2010 End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. Palace Resources announced to the Australian Securities Exchange on October 27 that it had appointed Mr Suhren, but the company did not mention the burglary charges.
While this has sparked talk in Perth about poor disclosure practices, believed to be common among junior miners, legal sources suggested Palace would only have to disclose the case if Mr Suhren was found guilty.
However, sources also said disclosure would have occurred if "director's best practice" had been followed.
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission declined to comment. Palace chairman Guy Le Page defended the decision to appoint Mr Suhren, although he admitted that a guilty verdict against his new managing director "would change things a bit".
Mr Le Page said Mr Suhren was the right man for the job because of his experience working for Griffin Coal, which collapsed in January owing creditors hundreds of millions of dollars.
He said he wanted Mr Suhren to steer the company after it recently acquired coal assets in Indonesia's West Papua province.
Mr Suhren, then working for Griffin, was photographed by The Australian in 2008 meeting former premier Brian Burke.
The pair were working on a plan to resolve a dispute with workers at Griffin's $400 million coal-fired power station expansion in Western Australia.
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