The
restructuring of PBL’s legal and corporate
administration areas into one section means the Packer-controlled company could
very well have one of the most colourful company
secretarties of a major Australian
company.

Long
time company secretary, Stephen Wright lost out in the Park Street purge and
leaves next week, his departure marked with faint
praise from PBL CEO, John Alexander, who thanked the long time Packer employee
for his “significant contribution.”

His
replacement, Guy Jalland, brings colour to the normally grey areas of the legal and corporate
secretarial. He must
be the only Corporate Counsel/Company Secretary in Australia with mentions in
the HIH Royal Commission, the Steve Vizard case, and
in One.Tel.
They’re the three biggest corporate scandals of the past four or five
years, so it’s been a significant effort to feature in dispatches from
all three.

That
HIH mention was courtesy of Graham Cubbin, the former
finance director of Cons Press and a PBL director in testimony at the Royal
Commission.

The
Vizard mention was in the now amazing 2003 commital case involving Vizard’s
former book keeper, Roy Hilliard. The
court heard how in 1992 Vizard sought some expert
counsel from lawyer Jalland:

“You met with him in about 1992 to discuss overseas tax havens?”
Vizard was asked by Hilliard’s barrister Peter Hayes.

“No.”

“He’ll say you did. You deny that on your oath do you?” the
lawyer pressed.

“I do.”

“Have you ever discussed tax matters with Guy Jalland?”

“I have.”

The
author of that story was The SMH’s CBD columnist, Christine
Lacy, who is on her way to becoming Nine’s director of Corporate Communications.

The One.Tel mention was in the court case involving the ASIC civil case against Jodee Rich and Mark Silberman. It
involved a consultancy arrangement with a witness who appeared in court last
month. The witness said the agreement had been negotiated with Guy Jalland.

Kerry
Packer and his companies are such dominant players in large areas of Australian
business life that it’s difficult avoiding being caught up or mentioned in some
argy bargy over time if
you’re a legal or commercial adviser.