Ex-Lib leader says Premier should come clean on Mint saga

Former WA Liberal leader Zak Kirkup says Perth Mint chair Sam Walsh would have told the State Government about the refinery’s gold doping scandal much sooner than the Premier and Bill Johnston have claimed.

And he added Mr Walsh is bound to face a parliamentary inquiry grilling if Mark McGowan doesn’t provide clarity.

Mr McGowan on Wednesday said the board found out about the saga in September 2021 when the Mint’s biggest customer — the Shanghai Gold Exchange — complained it had discovered two bars had been diluted with too much silver.

This triggered an internal investigation in the same month that warned of immense reputational damage to the Mint and the prospect of the government-backed business being forced to buy back and recast up to 100 tonnes of bullion valued at around $8.7 billion.

Mr Johnston said through a spokesman he only learnt of the complaint on January 27 last year “in a regular meeting with the chairman and acting chief executive”.

And Mr McGowan claims he had no knowledge of the doping or the complaint until it was reported publicly on Monday.

But Mr Kirkup, who also worked as a policy adviser in the Barnett Government, said Mr Walsh was a corporate titan of high integrity and would have broken the news soon after learning about it himself.

He also said that Mr Walsh, the former chief executive of Rio Tinto, was in an unenviable position as if he provides more detail he either contradicts the Premier or reveals the board did not meet its disclosure obligations.

“I don’t think he’s the person who is ever going to lie, and certainly not lie for the Government,” Mr Kirkup told The West Australian.

“There are undoubtedly some issues with the Corporations Act or ASIC if the board came out and made statements that were deliberately misleading.”

The rest of the board was also well regarded so it was “unfathomable they wouldn’t have exposed a commercial risk, contingent liability for the company”, Mr Kirkup said.

“They would have to tell and they would have put that in board minutes. Those minutes would have gone to the Premier and the ministers to sign off in Cabinet — exactly the process that would have happened under the Barnett government.

“There’s no reason to believe that policy has changed.”

Mr Kirkup said the State Government would “have to get rid” of the board if it failed to disclose the SGE complaint as it would have been negligent in its duties.

“But the Premier has expressed full confidence in the board, so there’s something a bit odd here,” he said.

Shadow treasurer Steve Thomas said it was the biggest scandal the State had seen “probably since WA Inc”.

Mr Thomas said it was possible Cabinet signed off on the September board minutes but didn’t register the enormity of the issue.

“It is absolutely possible that the system failed, that the people who knew that there was a problem and people that knew about the substitution racket didn’t tell those people higher up,” he said.

“But that’s a failing of the system, that’s a failing of government governance, and ultimately, the State Government is responsible.

“It’s . . . the Premier’s job, ultimately, to make sure that the reporting process works.”

Mr Johnston, who is currently overseas, has faced calls to return to Perth to address the scandal and the fresh trouble in the State’s prison system.

But Mr Kirkup said the Premier should clear up the disclosure timing situation before Mr Walsh was summoned before a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr Thomas said he hoped there would be an inquiry — but after the AUSTRAC investigation into the Mint concluded.

The financial crimes investigator launched the probe in August 2021 — the month before the SGE complaint — over allegations it breached anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism legislation on multiple occasions, leaving taxpayers potentially bearing the brunt of fines that could cost billions.

“The AUSTRAC report will be far more damning than things that we’ve seen so far,” Mr Thomas said.