News Release

Vancouver -- The B.C. Securities Commission has dismissed an application by a former company president to revoke a 17-year securities trading ban imposed on him in 1995.

John Walter Scott Roeder, former president of Keywest Resources Ltd., a company listed on the former Vancouver Stock Exchange, was also prohibited from being a director or officer of any public company as part of the 1995 commission decision.

In the 1995 decision, the commission found that Roeder, while president of Keywest:
· “managed Keywest as his own company and casually shuffled payments back and forth among his personal accounts and those of Keywest”
· failed to disclose material changes and issued false and misleading new releases, and
· after arranging a sale of control of Keywest and receiving the proceeds, “despite the fact that he was still president and a director of Keywest, effectively abandoned Keywest”

In his application, Roeder had alleged that counsel for commission staff acted while in a conflict of interest and that he was misled into believing that the conflict was resolved before the 1994 hearing leading up to the orders. Roeder said he only discovered in 2000 that the alleged conflict was not resolved.

Without making any findings on the merits of Roeder’s allegations, the commission found that had Roeder exercised reasonable diligence, he could have discovered in 1995 that the alleged conflict was not resolved. Roeder did not make his application until 2000. Noting that the law is clear that applications such as Roeder’s must be struck down on the basis of undue delay, even if sound on their merits, the commission dismissed Roeder’s application.

The commission said, “There would be prejudice to the effectiveness of the Commission’s adjudication process if all of its decisions were subject to re-examination years after the fact by the bringing of applications that, with the exercise of reasonable diligence, could have been dealt with at or near the time of the original hearing.”





The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities and exchange contracts within the province. Copies of the decision can be viewed in the documents database of the commission’s website www.bcsc.bc.ca or by contacting Andrew Poon, Media Relations, 604-899-6880.