Gulf board pays fee to ousted president (February 24, 2004)

The board of Gulf International Minerals (The company’s directors recently sought and received Ralston-Saul’s resignation following an investigation led by external legal counsel. The board commissioned the investigation after allegations surfaced that Ralston-Saul had misappropriated US$30,000 of company funds and devised a scheme to receive a US$1.5-million “secret profit” on a proposed acquisition.

Gulf Minerals holds interests in various mineral properties in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan.

The company says Ralston-Saul admitted “wrong-doing” and that its investigation prevented the scheme to make a secret profit from being implemented. However, the company agreed to pay its former president a non-compete fee of $560,000 over two years “in order to preserve the integrity” of its corporate strategy and its investment in Tajikistan.

Alastair Ralston-Saul is the brother of John Ralston-Saul and brother-in-law of Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. John Ralston-Saul was once a director of Gulf but resigned in 1998.

Stephen Pearce has been appointed interim president and CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement.