The soap opera at Nat Rothschild’s Indonesian coal miner Bumi continued today as an extraordinary plot took a series of new twists.
Bumi said that circumstantial evidence in lawyer Macfarlanes’ investigation into corporate governance at its Indonesian subsidiaries supported “a number of allegations”.
However, Macfarlanes was unable to substantiate the allegations of misappropriation of development funds at its Bumi Resources and Berau subsidiaries and, for legal reasons, can’t publish any details of its probe. “Due to the unwillingness of key parties to be interviewed and provide information as well as provenance issues, the allegations have not been substantiated,” Bumi said. The investigation was commissioned after Rothschild passed on details of alleged corporate wrongdoing at Bumi subsidiaries to the group’s board, which he said were from an anonymous whistleblower.
Rothschild refused to reveal his or her identity and Macfarlanes was unable to track them down to interview them for its report.
Bumi said it was not able to publish any of the findings of Macfarlanes’ investigation because of the legal risks involved “as a result of the undisclosed provenance of the materials which formed the basis of the investigation together with the unsubstantiated nature of the allegations”. However, Bumi said it would take “all appropriate action open to it” to act on the findings of the report, which includes bringing the issues to the attention of the Serious Fraud Office.
In a further twist, he issued a fresh call for the resignation of chief executive Nick Von Schirnding and senior independent director Sir Julian Horn-Smith to resign.
Rothschild said the claims on Bumi’s website that Von Schirnding “is a qualified lawyer and also holds an accounting qualification” are wrong. Sir Julian denied this, saying: “Nick holds a degree in law from University of Cape Town and practised as a prosecutor for the SA Defence Force.”
