can we start an action ?, page-14

Community consultation is one thing, but when Metgasgo's largest shareholder is found to have links to the Obeid family, it sends politicians running for cover. With ICAC now involved this will become a long drawn out affair as clearly this family is in question over a number of mining deals and alleged corruption involving certain ministers. The can of worms has been opened and whether or not Metgasco is involved or not, this will take years to sort out...my sympathies go out to honourable shareholders, but no sympathy goes to those who consistantly labelled the protestors as out of work hippies or those jumping on whatever cause comes up next. The majority of the protestors are farmers, hard working locals and in many cases highly educated individuals with a community and environmental conscience. Most have never protested in their lives.

This was always a speculative play, glad I chose not to invest...

Extract from today's SMH

"The chairman of Metgasco's largest shareholder, ERM Power, is Tony Bellas, who is in business with Eddie Obeid's nephew, Dennis Jabour. Both are shareholders in the Queensland company Gasfields Waste Water and Services, of which Mr Jabour is the sole director.
Until March last year, Mr Bellas was also a director of Australian Water Queensland, a subsidiary of infrastructure company Australian Water Holdings, whose activities are the subject of current ICAC investigations.
Eddie Obeid jnr, the son of Mr Obeid, worked for Australian Water Queensland. The ICAC has heard that from 2009 Mr Obeid jnr led AWH's push into the Queensland market.
Among Mr Bellas's fellow directors on the Australian Water Queensland board were Mr Di Girolamo, a former lobbyist and Liberal party fundraiser who was chief executive of AWH.
Mr Di Girolamo's gift of a $3000 bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage to former NSW premier Barry O'Farrell led to his resignation after Mr O'Farrell gave false evidence about it to the ICAC.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/metgasco-project-referred-to-icac-as-links-to-obeid-family-emerge-20140515-zrdfz.html#ixzz31lXdlaDS