Mineral Resources: Judge breaks seal on secrecy orders covering Chris Ellison, Steven Pizoggo legal feud

A judge has partially lifted a veil of secrecy over a former Mineral Resources fix-it man’s allegations so Chris Ellison’s boardroom colleagues can get their own legal advice. And with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission investigating MinRes, Federal Court judge Michael Feutrill has also partially relaxed suppression orders so any government authority can see allegations made by Mr Ellison’s former lieutenant, Steven Pigozzo. It is understood Justice Feutrill relaxed the orders late Wednesday after being asked by Mr Ellison’s long-time legal advisers at Perth firm Bennett, which is seeking a variety of permanent suppression orders over allegations made by Mr Pigozzo. Mr Pigozzo launched his action in June 2022 and made a variety of hotly contested allegations about Mr Ellison and MinRes co-founder Bob Gavranich using MinRes staff for their private ventures, including work on Mr Ellison’s yacht Anya and his former luxury property in Queenstown. MinRes, Mr Gavranich, MinRes company secretary Mark Wilson and Bennett operating company Lawfirst Pty Ltd were defendants in the action until a surprise settlement was struck in July. Governance at MinRes has come under the spotlight since it was revealed in mid-October that Mr Ellison had paid $3.9 million to the Australian Taxation Office in May last year to settle his liability over a tax scheme dating back to before MinRes was floated on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2006. Under probing from the media and ASX officials, MinRes last month confirmed it had been examining Mr Ellison’s private dealings with the company. MinRes said the chief executive and major shareholder had not disclosed his tax woes to his fellow directors until October last year. MinRes in October confirmed it had paid $3.79m to the Ellison-linked British Virgin Islands company Far East Equipment Holdings in 2006 and 2008 while it was allegedly being used to channel tax-free dollars to Mr Ellison and other MinRes executives. Revealing Mr Ellison had been hit with $8.8m of financial penalties, MinRes said on November 4 he had “failed to appreciate the importance of transparent and timely disclosure of matters that could give rise to a potential or actual conflict of interest”. MinRes admitted hiring external lawyers to carry out an investigation after receiving a report from a whistleblower in June 2022, receiving “more detailed allegations in June 2023 and in November 2023 “receiving substantive details about these matters”. The MinRes board received a report about the investigation in June this year and told the ASX it had “considered the matter”. MinRes entered settlement negotiations with Mr Pigozzo’s team that month and finalised a settlement in late July covering a variety of legal actions by Ellison allies against Mr Pigozzo and his advisers. That settlement is understood to include the Pigozzo camp not oppose applications being advanced by Bennett for sweeping secrecy orders over Mr Pigozzo’s filings. They cover chunks of statements of claim filed from June to November last year, including matters overlapping with recent allegations about Mr Ellison’s conducts. The proposed orders also cover affidavits by Mr Pigozzo, his lawyer Michael Harmer and MinRes procurement officer Robert Woodhouse filed from October 2023 to February 2024. MinRes has not answered The West Australian’s questions about whether it will vary the secrecy application in light of recent public disclosures and allegations about Mr Ellison. ASIC launched a formal investigation into MinRes on November 7. The application was filed in August and court records show MinRes filed its last submissions on September 11 — almost six weeks before the public scandal kicked off. Justice Feutrill will hear the permanent secrecy application on December 17.