THE former CEO of a major Queensland electricity provider has pleaded not guilty to allegations he concealed from his board of directors a purchase of 60,000 shares in a company to which they had recently awarded a contract.
Mark Douglas Chatfield, 55, of South Perth, pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane District Court to one count of intentionally and dishonestly failing to exercise powers and discharge duties in good faith in the best interest of the corporation.
In prosecutor Alan MacSporran's opening to the jury on Monday morning, he said the crown will allege that while CEO of the Queensland government-owned corporation CS Energy Limited Chatfield used his knowledge of the business' dealings for personal gain.
It is alleged that in January 2007 Chatfield applied for 60,000 shares in the float of Perth-based PearlStreet Limited, at a time when he knew the board of CS Energy Limited had decided to enter into a contract with subsidiary company PearlStreet ETRS.
Mr MacSporran told the court Chatfield claimed he did not know there was a correlation between PearlStreet ETRS and PearlStreet Limited.
The court heard that by law Chatfield had to disclose to the board to get its consent for the purchase.
However, Mr MacSporran told the court that Chatfield intentionally misled the CS Energy board in an email to secretary Chris Turnbull on February 23, 2007.
"Chris please amend the register for me as follows: The PearlStreet (floats 23 Feb) - 60,000 shares held by Chatfield family super fund," the email said.
"CS Energy doesn't have, to my knowledge, a current relationship with PearlStreet, but may occasionally use its subsidiary (HRL?) for non-destructive testing."
However, the court heard that just two months earlier on December 21, 2006, the CS Energy Board had approved the awarding of a contract to PearlStreet ETRS.
When someone asked at a meeting three days earlier on December 18 who PearlStreet was, the crown alleges Chatfield provided an explanation that they had bought out ETRS.
Mr MacSporran said the inclusion of the words "(HRL?)" in the email to Mr Turnbull was also an attempt by Chatfield to conceal his knowledge of PearlStreet ETRS.
The court also heard that David Eiszele, the chairman of PearlStreet Limited at the time, was a long time associate of Chatsworth and had even provided him with a reference for his role at CS Energy.
Mr MacSporran said Mr Eiszele will testify that the two had dinner on March 9, 2006, where the topic of the takeover of ETRS was discussed.
The court also saw an email Chatfield received on June 28, 2005, announcing that PearlStreet Limited would be acquiring ETRS from July 1, 2005.
The trial continues.
