East Asia dissidents seek judge's help ahead of AGM

by Mike Caswell

The battle between East Asia Minerals Corp. and a group of dissidents over control of the company has landed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, with the dissidents claiming that the company may invalidate their votes at the upcoming annual general meeting. The dissidents say that the company has threatened to reject their proxies for no good reason. They are asking for a court order that would essentially force the company to count their votes.

The claims of the dissidents come as they are attempting to oust the company's board at its Feb. 1 AGM. Among other things, the dissident group says that management has spent too much money on an insignificant project while ignoring the company's "crown jewel" Miwah project. The dissidents further complain that the board is more interested in maintaining management compensation packages while allowing the company's value to drop.

For its part, East Asia's management says that the dissidents are uninformed about the intricacies of working in Indonesia, where both of East Asia's projects are located. If the company were to abandon one of its projects there, it would lose credibility with the locals. As such, it is important to direct resources at both projects. The company further pointed out that one of the original dissident nominees, Patrick Cronin, had received a 10-year ban from the Mutual Fund Dealers Association.

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