COLOURFUL mining identity Peter Salter has fuelled speculation he is pulling the strings at troubled explorer Paynes Find Gold by spending time at its headquarters yesterday just before an announcement that dissident shareholders had failed in their bid to roll the board.
But Mr Salter, who was sacked as managing director in September, had left the company's office in West Perth by the time police arrived to speak to him about an unknown matter.
The latest intrigue surrounding the cash-strapped explorer came as key shareholders, including Perth porn king Malcolm Day and skimpies baron Steve Zielinski, were mulling over whether to launch legal action to challenge the company's insistence that a vote to elect new directors last Friday was conducted fairly.
Paynes Find Gold told the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday that Perth businessman Carl Popal and geologist Ray Muskett had narrowly failed to win election to the board. Both men had about 47 per cent of the vote.
A third candidate who is close to the dissidents, Doug Taylor, was elected to the board. The shareholders want to know how Paynes Find Gold -- with Mr Salter at the helm -- raised $9 million since last year, but had just $300,000 in its accounts at the end of September.
Mr Salter was dismissed in September for allegedly failing to notify the board of a sexual harassment claim brought against him by a female employee at the company's remote project.
A Canadian backpacker was paid $4000 to settle the complaint she lodged against both Mr Salter and the company, but this was done without admission of any liability.
Paynes Find Gold, which boasts lucrative gold tenements in Western Australia's Mid-West region, was Mr Salter's first business venture in Australia since he was banned from serving as a company director in 2005 over his role in two failed companies.
Dissident shareholders claim Mr Salter -- who remains a major shareholder -- still exerts influence over Paynes Find Gold chairman Paul Berresford and non-executive director Adam Bennett.
Mr Salter has a long association with both men. Mr Berresford yesterday denied Mr Salter had been in the explorer's office but said later he had since been told the former managing director had visited to "see how the vote count was going".
He said he had limited contact with Mr Salter, who was "not involved at all" in the affairs of the company.
Neither Mr Salter nor his lawyers were able to be contacted yesterday to answer questions about his role with the company and why police wanted to speak to him.
Sources confirmed police visited the company's office in West Perth but were told that Mr Salter was not present.
Mr Popal said yesterday he disputed the company's rejection of millions of his proxy votes.
Mr Berresford said many proxy holders had lodged multiple proxies and he described allegations that the vote was rigged as "total nonsense". He said the rejected proxies, if allowed, would have led to Mr Popal and Mr Muskett losing by a wider margin.
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