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News Release

Company head ordered to resign over undocumented loans

  • Date:

    2005-07-14
  • Number:

    2005/40

Vancouver – The British Columbia Securities Commission has ordered the former top executive of a B.C.-based public company to vacate his post after he admitted to authorizing undocumented loans to a number of companies that he ran – including a private numbered company that he owned.

Dilbagh Singh Gujral cannot be a director or officer of any issuer and he cannot engage in any investor relations activities for four years. He must also pay $30,000 to the BCSC.

From January 1990 to December 2003, Gujral was the president, chief executive officer and a director of Cachet Enterprises Corp., a TSX-Venture Exchange-listed company. (On April 1, 2004, Cachet changed its name to Gold Star Resources Corp.)

In a settlement with the BCSC, Gujral admitted that he authorized a number of loans made by Cachet to companies without filing material change reports or issuing news releases contrary to securities laws requirements. The loans were made to companies that Gujral had an interest in or connection with, including more than $61,000 advanced to a private numbered company owned by Gujral. These loans were subsequently written off as uncollectible.

Gujral failed to disclose his personal interest in the loans at Cachet’s board of directors meetings. He also failed to ensure that Cachet had sufficient corporate governance controls in place to prevent or detect the misappropriation of about $80,000 from the company’s treasury by a former bookkeeper.  The financial institution that allowed the former bookkeeper to cash pre-signed cheques and/or forged cheques reimbursed Cachet for $40,000 of this amount.

The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities within the province. You may view the settlement on our website www.bcsc.bc.ca by typing in the search box, Dilbagh Singh Gujral or 2005 BCSECCOM 458. If you have questions, contact Andrew Poon, Media Relations, 604-899-6880.