PE: Former Meteor Creek manager pleads guilty to fThis is very interesting, the partner admits GUILT. This must make Fisher very nervous as his charges are STAYED not dismissed. The crown should use the guilty admission to strengthen their case with Fisher.
Wow what a twist..........
Former Meteor Creek manager pleads guilty to fraud
By Teresa Wright, Transcontinental Media
Source: The Guardian, Jan. 20, 2010
[CHARLOTTETOWN, PE] — One of the two men who convinced Islanders to buy shares in a failed natural gas project several years ago admitted guilt to charges of fraud in Charlottetown Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Edward Walter Wenger of Collingwood, Ontario, was the former project manager of Meteor Creek Resources Inc. He was charged in August 2008 with conspiracy to commit fraud and pleaded not guilty last September. But in Supreme Court on Tuesday, Wenger’s defence counsel Jordan Brown advised the court Wenger wished to change his plea to guilty.
Charges were also laid last fall against Meteor Creek’s former president Gordon David Fisher of Toronto. But those charges were stayed in court on Tuesday.
Meteor Creek drilled for gas in Bear River, near Souris, in 2001. At the time, the company said it was optimistic a strike in the area would yield a commercially viable supply of natural gas. That created a great deal of excitement on P.E.I. and investors began to jump on board.
The public hype reached its highest levels when the provincial government of the day began to heavily promote Meteor Creek, especially after a controversial photograph appeared on the front page of The Guardian. The August 2001 photograph showed Fisher posing with a natural gas flare in the background. The Crown has alleged this flare was caused by commercially provided propane gas delivered to the Meteor Creek site.
Hundreds of Islanders lost thousands of dollars when, in May 2003, the Toronto Stock Exchange issued a cease-trade order for Meteor Creek shares, effectively making them worthless.
In court on Tuesday, Wenger’s lawyer appeared on his behalf and pleaded guilty to arranging a “misleading flare of an exploratory gas well while operating Meteor Creek Resources Inc.”
When asked why Wenger decided to change his plea and admit fault in the fraud charge and why charges against Fisher were stayed, Brown said he could not give details at this time.
Wenger will appear in Supreme Court on March 30 for sentencing. An agreed statement of facts will be filed with the court a week before this date.
Fraud is an indictable offence and carries a jail sentence of up to 14 years.