Agent, I have given 'thumbs up' to Matt although I believe that...

Agent, I have given 'thumbs up' to Matt although I believe that the release would have been incorporated in the quarterly report but for the EGM request.

The issue is that it is not clear who is running the company. Normally, it would be the board of directors under a chairman, the board consisting of at least some INDEPENDENT directors. Matt is not a director. Tim was a director but resigned - he was not replaced - there is no formally appointed director who takes ownership of the quarterly reports, for instance.

There is a person who holds a dominant shareholding who controls the management of the company through a vehicle that has some form of management contract. I’ve noted the definition of director in the Corporations Act 2001, s.9: "(b) unless the contrary intention appears, a person who is not validly appointed as a director if: (i) they act in the position of a director; or (ii) the directors of the company or body are accustomed to act in accordance with the person’s instructions or wishes".

Well, of course, I cannot know whether the person would satisfy that definition or not but I have complained before at the complete lack of visibility of the persons formally appointed (the exception having been Tim Putt). Under UK law, a person satisfying the above definition would be termed a 'shadow director' - that is a statutory definition.

But only formally appointed directors can be voted off the board.

If, therefore, the affairs of the company are being directed by a person that would be termed a shadow director under UK law (there being a similar concept in the Corporations Act 2001), the democratic powers provided by the law to shareholders are defeated. Indeed, why even bother have a Corporations Act?

Sabre will need further funds. The $8m has been mostly burnt through, a significant proportion seemingly on administration, but there has been little progress. Capital was last raised at 26c and the share price has been drifting downwards just about continuously since. What would the shareholders of Rio T or BHP do, I wonder, if faced with such dismal performance?