News Release

Released: June 7, 1993  Contact: Ron Messent  660-4800

The British Columbia Securities Commission today released its decision in the matter of Aatra Resources Ltd., Victor Meunier, Joel Machtinger and Henry Huber.

The Commission ordered the removal of Meunier's trading rights and prohibited him from becoming or acting as a director of officer of any issuer for a period of 25 years. Meunier's associate Joel Machtinger was prohibited from trading and from becoming or acting as a director or officer of any issuer for 5 years. Meunier and Machtinger were also ordered to pay costs of the hearing.

The Commission will consider further submissions before making final orders against Henry Huber. Pending receipt and consideration of submissions, the Commission has made interim orders removing Huber's trading rights and suspending his registration under the Securities Act.

Meunier, was a promoter and de facto director of Aatra, a reporting issuer that completed an initial public offering of its shares and became listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange in August 1989. Machtinger was a director of Aatra. Meunier and Machtinger were both residents of Ontario.

Huber was, at that time, a partner with Continental Securities in Vancouver, the agent for Aatra's public offering. He has been with Yorkton Securities Inc. since its merger with Continental in September 1989.

An investigation into trading in Aatra shares began after the Exchange received a complaint from one of Huber's clients. Trading was halted by the Exchange and a cease trading order issued by the Superintendent of Brokers (the Commission's chief administrative officer) in March 1990. In September 1991, Commission staff issued a notice of hearing, setting out allegations against Meunier, Huber and others. The Exchange applied for and was granted standing in the hearing to lead evidence and make submissions with respect to Huber's alleged violations of Exchange rules. The hearing was held in June and July of 1992 and final written submission were filed in October 1992.

The Commission found that Meunier was a key figure in a scheme to corner the market in Aatra's shares. This scheme enabled Durham Securities Corporation Limited, a securities dealer in Toronto, to manipulate the price of Aatra shares on the Exchange, and sell them at inflated prices to investors in Ontario. To carry out the scheme, Meunier negotiated the acquisition by nominees of virtually all of Aatra's shares outstanding before the public offering, lined up nominees to act as directors, arranged the public offering with Huber, concealed his role as a promoter, de facto director and shareholder by selling the offering under a false and misleading prospectus and failing to file insider reports, and lined up nominees to acquire 42 per cent of the offering.

Huber's dealings on the Aatra public offering were almost exclusively with Meunier. He never met Machtinger and his dealings with the other directors of record, Paul Quinn and Ralph Simpson, were in relation to the opening of brokerage accounts through which they and other nominees of Meunier purchased shares from the offering.

The offering was for 675,000 shares, of which 285,000 were purchased by nominees of Meunier, 54,000 were purchased by Huber and his family and an associate at Continental, and 336,000 were placed in the accounts of 188 clients of Continental. In the first two days of trading after the offering, almost all of the shares purchased by the clients were sold through the Exchange and most of them were purchased by Durham. At least some of the purchases and sales for the Continental clients were done by Huber on a discretionary basis without the knowledge or written authority of the clients, in contravention of Exchange rules. Meunier was in Huber's office for the first hour of trading, during which several large trades were executed, and conversed on the telephone with Durham during this period.

The Commission found that Huber must have known of the scheme to corner the market in Aatra shares and that he permitted or acquiesced in it, in contravention of Exchange rules. The Commission also found that Huber personally traded Aatra shares with this knowledge, in contravention of section 68 of the Securities Act.

In December 1990, the Ontario Securities Commission determined that Durham and its principals had conducted an illegal distribution of Aatra shares in Ontario and permanently cancelled their securities registrations. In June 1992, the principals of Durham entered a settlement agreement with the staff of the Commission and consented to orders removing their trading rights and prohibiting them from becoming or acting as directors or officers of reporting issuers for 25 years. Quinn and Simpson also entered settlements with the staff of the Commission in June 1992 and consented to orders removing their trading rights and prohibiting them from becoming or acting as directors or officers of reporting issuers for 15 years and 10 years, respectively.

Copies of the Commission's decision (40 pages) may be obtained in person at 1100 - 865 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia.