Allegations raised against Mineral Resources by former procurement manager Steven Pigozzo remain under wraps as both parties try to strengthen their claims.
Allegations raised against Mineral Resources by former procurement manager Steven Pigozzo remain under wraps as both parties try to strengthen their claims.
Mr Pigozzo and the Chris Ellison-led company have sued each other in recent years, with legal proceedings ongoing in both the Supreme Court of Western Australia and the Federal Court of Australia.
Mr Ellison has engaged Noel Hutley as his legal representative, the same barrister representing Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting in the ongoing trial over billions of dollars in mining royalties.
Federal Court orders handed down in June kept the lid shut on allegations Mr Pigozzo made against his former employer and Mr Ellison, with his statement of claim struck out from the court file.
Speaking before Federal Court judge Michael Feutrill on Tuesday, Mr Hutley said Mr Pigozzo should be able to put up an amended application that did not involve confidential matters.
“The heart of the pleading is reliance upon communication that we say are privileged,” he said in court.
“We say it’s an abusive process to put forward a pleading that relies on privileged matters.”
Justice Feutrill ordered Mr Pigozzo’s updated statement of claim to be removed from the case file and granted a non-publication order over the contents in June.
In court, Justice Feutrill yesterday said the interim suppression order remained in place but it did not cover what the lawyers said in their submissions in open court.
Mr Pigozzo’s lawyer, John Hyde Page, spent some time persuading Justice Feutrill to admit some evidence that MinRes wanted suppressed.
While details were scant, he referred to two meetings Mr Pigozzo had with Mr Ellison and other MinRes personnel in his submission to court.
Mr Hyde Page said it might be necessary to call Mr Ellison to give evidence at the trial.
“There’s a real reason for the people with direct involvement in these events to give evidence,” he told the court.
“If Mr Ellison or Mr [Bob] Gavranich gives evidence, they can be asked questions about this.”
Bob Gavranich is the general manager at PIHA, a subsidiary of MinRes, and has been named as a party in Mr Pigozzo’s action.
Mr Hyde Page said in court that his client should be able to replead despite MinRes claiming the allegations made were "scandalous".
“We’ve done our research, and we have witnesses,” he said.
“We shouldn’t have all our evidence ripped out from the case file because it’s [claimed to be] scandalous or libel.”
The hearing continues today.
