bennett v popal, page-3

Complete email sent by Carl Popal to PNE shareholders:

"I am taking the opportunity to write to you again to clarify certain matters raised in a letter circulated to you by Mr Adam Bennett, a director of PNE who was voted out at the recent AGM but reappointed as a director shortly thereafter.
Given the short time before the next General Meeting of the company, I have not dealt in detail with all of the matters raised by Mr Bennett but I would be happy to do so either by telephone or email with any shareholders who have any queries.
I would, however, like to draw to your attention the following key points to ensure that you can make an informed decision in relation to the meeting scheduled for 9 December:
1 PNE expended shareholders’ money acquiring an option over tenements held by Mr Cable. Quite simply, PNE was unable to settle on the acquisition period because it did not have sufficient funds to do so, and also the option lapsed due to non payment of extension fee on or before 1st August 2011. After the option lapsed, Mr Peter Salter (a former director of PNE) on 18 September 2011 offered Mr Cable the sum of $10,000 for a further extension. Mr Cable declined this offer.
2 Mr Bennett appears to take issue with the appointment of additional directors in terms of costs. In this regard shareholders should be aware:
• Ray and myself have no intention of seeking anything by way of fees beyond standard non executive director fees, which according to the Annual Report is $32,700 per annum.
• The PNE Board (including Mr Bennett) have just appointed another new director so presumably the issue of director fees is not in any event a real concern for the PNE Board.
• What should be of concern to shareholders is the costs incurred in relation to directors in the financial year to 30 June 2011, including payments of $234,660 to Mr Bennett in executive consulting fees (including a total amount of overtime of $144,660 at a rate of $200 per hour).
3 What is important is that elected representatives of shareholders have seats on the PNE Board. None of the current directors on the PNE Board have ever been elected by PNE shareholders, and indeed one was recently voted off by shareholders and subsequently reappointed.
4 Mr Bennett’s statement that I invested money as seed capital into PNE is correct. It is important to note, however, that I have invested more money at 20 cents per share in the IPO than I invested in seed capital. By way of comparison, Mr Bennett and other founding directors were issued a total of 39 million shares for a total of $390 (being 0.001 cents per share).
5 Despite Mr Bennett’s assertions, neither myself or my companies have received any commissions from PNE in relation to fundraising.
In the circumstances where your company remains suspended on ASX and has recently appointed another director who has not been elected by shareholders, it is imperative that shareholders have their say on 9 December 2011 and elect new directors to represent them on the Board.
I again urge you to either attend the General Meeting on 9 December 2011 or appoint me as your proxy for that meeting by delivering the proxy form to the company in accordance with the instructions on it no later than 10.00am Wednesday, 7 December 2011.
I would be more than happy to discuss any of the matters concerning PNE including those raised in Mr Bennett’s letter with any of you and to this end I would welcome you to contact me by telephone on +61 08 9480 0605 or by email on [email protected] ."