Gerard Ryle

Interesting article in today’s Sydney Morning Herald about Frank Timis, the man who promised Firepower shareholders in 2008 they would get their money back from the new version of Firepower that was being set up in London. Needless to say, shareholders are still waiting to hear further on Green Power Corporation.

This follows news only this week that one of the victims of a double murder in Perth’s hills, Stefan Viorel Borsa, was a career criminal and the former stepfather of the London-based mining and oil magnate.

Gordon Hill, a former  Police minister in the West Australian government has declared himself bankrupt in an apparent attempt to stave off legal action over the Firepower saga. My understanding is that a multimillion dollar lawsuit has been taken out against Mr Hill by unhappy Firepower investors. Mr Hill was one of the early director’s of Tim Johnston’s fraudulent fuel technology company and it is alleged in the lawsuit against him that he made millions from selling shares. His statement of assets in the bankruptcy proceedings includes a claim he has just over $20,000 in cash. Mr Hill is a lawyer and has been a director of a number of publicly listed companies both in Australia and overseas. The good news for Firepower investors is that this will, I am assured, not end the case despite a report to the contrary.

Police have finally made their first arrest over the $100 million Firepower scandal but the surprise is it’s not any of the people responsible for diddling mums and dads. Instead, police have charged a Perth real estate agent with attempting to extort money from Firepower chief Tim Johnston.

Gold Coast detectives flew to Perth this week with a warrant for the arrest of Maxwell Raymond Healy over the alleged extortion attempt, which the West Australian reports was made last month.

Government departments  are amazingly brave all of sudden in cracking down on the miracle claims of new fuel saving products. Independent testing of a New Zealand device touted as fuel saving, has found it is useless, Western Australia’s Department of Consumer Protection says. Consumer Protection said the Fuelstar Combustion Catalyst failed to deliver petrol savings and emissions reductions promised by promoters of the product.

But it is strange to see how history is re-written. This was the same state government department that sat on its hands for more than a year before moving on Firepower. And it is now claiming to have stepped in to stop the Firepower scam – giving the impression it moved quickly. Mind you, I will give it credit for being the only government department to even ask a question.

A man Firepower boss Tim Johnston says was abducted by a group of bikies at the behest of property developer Warren Anderson has dismissed the claim as ridiculous.

“It’s actually ridiculous. It’s a bit offensive really, there’s no substance to it whatsoever,” Nairn told ABC radio. Funny that.

After a break from seeing Firepower in the news almost every day, I see the fall-out has resumed. Property tycoon Warren Anderson is defending claims he pushed his estranged wife across a room and onto the floor over a missing computer containing information about the collapsed Firepower business empire. There seem to be a lot of missing computers in the Firepower saga.

Firepower boss Tim Johnston has told a court that he agreed to a $4 million cash transfer out of the company’s funds after a man had made threats against an unspecified person. In dramatic testimony delivered in the Federal Court in Brisbane via video link to Perth, Mr Johnston said yesterday he had caved in to the demands to transfer the cash to a company linked to a Warren Anderson, despite there being no proper basis for the transfer. Read on here.

And here (although note that Les Stein is not a former government minister but a former chairman of the WA planning tribunal).

So here’s my prediction. A major underworld figure soon emerges in the story. I look forward to Tuesday.