Herd on the Terrace: WA summer of fun set to be boosted by Angela List, Paul List scrap

Being a sucker for high-stakes clashes, the Bull is not only excited about the Ashes cricket Test and the AC Milan home game at Optus Stadium. A whopping business and family battle is heading to Perth after five years of scraps over companies registered in Ghana, Jersey, the eastern Caribbean, Samoa and Australia. The row stars WA-raised mining contractor Paul List, his Ghana-focused flagship BCM International and his estranged wife Angela List — a one-time KPMG accountant who undisputedly held key roles in the List empire for two decades. Online puff pieces about Paul depict him as among pioneers among Sandgropers taking their skills to Africa late last century. While puff written about Ghana-educated Angela portray her as still being a director of BCM and winning awards for roles in related companies, including some remains of former ASX-listed company Adamus Resources. For fear of giving our defamation lawyer a heart attack, we won’t go into too much detail about the negative stuff written online in this battle between a white octogenarian and his highly-educated, younger African wife — or what has been endured by Ghanaians caught in the middle. But it is safe to say that Ghana’s High Court last year overturned Paul’s conviction for threatening death. He allegedly pointed a pistol at Angela’s personal assistant after being alerted to the estranged missus having the locks changed on her Accra apartment in January 2022. As described in the High Court judgment, a silent security video showed Paul exiting the back seat of a car holding a pistol. He “raised the gun in shooting stance” after an alleged tenant pointed out Angela’s personal assistant among a group of folks gathered just inside the building’s entrance. The judge found Paul’s prosecutor failed to establish a threat of death, not just a threat of harm covered by a different Ghana law. It is understandable that Angela has moved to an apartment above the mean streets of Nedlands, on the river side of the historic Steve’s pub. But BCM now claims in a Supreme Court writ that Angela breached her fiduciary duty to the company with $US2.1m of transfers in 2019 and 2020. We look forward to them slugging it out. Swipe right as new agency DTF Our younger operatives are chuckling about the registered internet address for the State Government’s new Department of Treasury and Finance, which is officially created next week. It is dtf.wa.gov.au. In modern lingo, DTF is an acronym of “down to f%$#”. In oldies speak, it roughly translates to heading out on the town hoping to get lucky. Oh, those were the days. Wyllie, Brookfield go to Rio for PCEC upgrade Rio Tinto is our hot favourite to be the foundation tenant of Wyllie Group’s and Brookfield’s whopping upgrade and extension of their tired Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre complex. We hear the savvy property owners are in talks with the mining giant while also seeking approval from the State Government and the WA Planning Commission for their ambitious plans to create a new waterfront precinct. Wyllie and Brookfield plan up to seven new residential, office, hotel, retail and hospitality development sites that are being sold as improving connections between the terrace, Swan River and Elizabeth Quay. In light of our report last week of cold breakfasts at the convention centre, here’s hoping they don’t wait for Roger Cook’s permission to upgrade the kitchens in the old cockroach. Deep holes in the lobby Overlooked in this week’s abrupt departure of new chief executive Peter Cock from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA is the threat of a leadership vacuum at the State’s two major business advocacy groups. Chamber of Mines and Energy boss Rebecca Tomkinson, of course, is heading off into one of the State’s cushiest gigs as WA’s new Agent General in London, with effect from late August. That means the State’s premier business mouthpieces, which have a big crossover of membership, are potentially competing for replacements. There’s no word on why Cock, who spent the past 10 years on the east coast, and the CCIWA parted ways after just four months. Appointments don’t always work out, but CCIWA board members appeared quite happy with their pick judging by their LinkedIn posts when he was named in early January. The CCIWA’s highest profile staffer, chief economist Aaron Morey, has stepped in to help run the chamber while another CEO search is undertaken. Unusually, he is temporarily sharing the leadership role with chief operating officer Matt Golds. You would think Morey would have to again be in the conversation to replace Cock. That is, unless he’s running for the CME gig.

Herd on the Terrace: WA summer of fun set to be boosted by Angela List, Paul List scrap

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