chameleons characters and criminals history, page-2

Going back in history a bit. Now to 24 Sept 2004.

Same chm problems and the missing $3 million.

Thanks AFR

:: 24.09.2004

Missing: $3 Million and One Platform

Tread softly as you pass, because Pierpont is in a delicate state. He spent several hours at the Vin de Champagne Awards and appears to have left most of his brain cells there.

The awards were held at the new Altitude restaurant at the top of the Shangri-La Hotel, which offers the best view Pierpont has ever seen of Sydney Harbour. Even better, the fragrant Elisabeth Drysdale, who runs the award night, was also offering no fewer than 13 of France's finest bubblies.

Pierpont did not shrink from the challenge of tasting them all, starting with a bottle of the Taittinger Brut and working his way through to a magnum of the 1990 Dom Ruinart.

Pierpont lingered awhile over the 1997 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut but the '96s were the stars of the night, notably the Pol Roger, the Moet et Chandon Rose, the Boizel Brut Millesime and Pierpont's favourite the Bollinger Grande Annee.

Pierpont also had the good fortune to be surrounded by beautiful women Mrs Pierpont, Deeta Colvin and Judy Hirst plus two of Australia's foremost champagne aficionados in Rob Hirst of Tucker Seabrook and that leading wine judge Huon Hooke.

So, in case readers are in any doubt, Pierpont had a jolly good evening. However, it has left your correspondent's brain operating on minimum wattage, so he will take it lightly and spend this column revisiting a couple of familiar companies: Chameleon Mining and Media World Communications.

Readers who stayed awake through last week's column will recall that Chameleon Mining did not quite turn out the way it was supposed to in its prospectus. Chameleon's prospectus said it was going to get instant cash flow by mining the Ruby Queen gold deposit in the Kimberley, but it didn't.

The prospectus also said Chameleon had a half-million-ounce deposit in Fiji, but it turned out that the number was not supported by geological data. Indeed, Chameleon's managing director, Greg Barnes, told Pierpont he's still trying to get the data from geologist Robert McLennan. As Greg has sacked Rob from the board, there would appear to be no small acrimony between the parties.

One other point that Pierpont did not pursue last week was the $3 million that Chameleon has on deposit. Chameleon raised just over $5 million when it floated a year ago. At first Chameleon said $3 million of the cash was in a solicitor's trust account. Later the $3 million was described as being on deposit.

Chameleon's auditor, Jackson Greeve, made a review of the company's interim accounts for the period to December 2003. In that review (which is less than a full audit), Jackson said: "A debtor of $3 million is included in receivables, the recovery of which is necessary for the going-concern basis of the company. The directors advise this amount is fully recoverable and when received is to meet exploration expenditure." To Pierpont's cynical mind, an auditor who raises the question of whether a loan is recoverable is implying there is some possibility it won't be.

In its takeover document for the Chilean mine, Chameleon revealed that the $3 million was on deposit at 9 per cent, renewable quarterly, with an unrelated party named Zenith Developments (Australia) Ltd.

Pierpont has never heard of Zenith Developments, but it sounds a bit less solid than the ANZ. Pierpont could not find any company of that name in any of Telstra's Australian directories. Nor could Pierpont find a company named Zenith Developments (Australia) Ltd registered on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) website.

However, Pierpont's search unearthed a company with the disturbingly similar name of Zenith Development Company (Australia) Pty Ltd. Disturbingly, because Zenith Development Company (Australia) Pty Ltd went into liquidation on September 16. It's almost certainly a coincidence, but Zenith Development Company (Australia) Pty Ltd has an apparent deficiency of $3.1 million.

Pierpont rang Zenith's liquidator, Robert Whitton of Knights, who said that he was not aware of any creditor for $3 million and that he'd never heard of Chameleon Mining. He added that Zenith Development Company (Australia) Pty Ltd had been founded by a chap named Ian Prider, who had been the sole director until last July.

So Pierpont rang Chameleon's managing director, veteran prospector Greg Barnes. Greg said no, Chameleon hadn't lent its money to the company that was in liquidation. It had deposited its $3 million with Zenith Development (Australia) Ltd, which was quite a sound company run by a chap called Trevor Prider.

An alarm bell rang inside Pierpont's empty skull. Was Trevor a relation of Ian Prider, Pierpont asked. Trevor was Ian's father, Greg replied.

Pierpont hung up slowly. He looked again at the printout on Zenith Development Company (Australia) Pty Ltd the Zenith that is in liquidation. Its registered office is the law firm Prider & Co in the distant western Sydney suburb of Kellyville.

So Chameleon has lent the bulk of the funds it raised in the float with a company that is not registered with Asic and is run by the father of a chap who founded a company with a very similar name, which is now in liquidation.

Chameleon's investors may be interested to know that. They may also be interested to know that Chameleon's quarterly cash statements show no interest income, which can only imply that Zenith Development (Australia) Ltd has not yet paid any interest, or not in cash, anyway.

In the present environment, 9 per cent is a ripper interest rate, but if Pierpont were a Chameleon investor, he'd prefer the $3 million to be somewhere a bit more visible and living a long way further from a company in liquidation.

The situation would be easier to understand if Chameleon had never actually raised the $3 million in the first place, but had just pencilled in the amount and then made a notional loan back to whoever was supposed to have subscribed. But that thought merely illustrates how deranged Pierpont's mentality has become, because no public company would consider such a subterfuge.