Document VY6Vg7xYoxwO7X7XgNQVKGvj

FILE NAME Cape Asbestos CAPE DATE 1984 Aug 29 DOC CAPE108 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Legal - Deposition of James Arthur Bowes Nichols Legal - Tibbs Case Exhibit 6 ' 2 3 4 5 6 by 9 f 11 12 1 14 | 15 16 17 1B 19 2 2 2 " a 25 24 | 25 Ly 26 27 L 28 1 W. CLARK DURT REPORTER 3217423 ELECTRONICALY IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA ELECTRONICALY CIVIL DIVISION ANTHONY A. BARBER et al Se Plaintiffs ee ELCTRONIAY SKALSCKALC FILED - v PITTSBURGH et al CORNING CORPORATION Defendants V. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA > 2023 ee Oct G.D. Nos 79-21544 ee 18 ee 81-20381 81-20383 e 10:31AM ee - RICHLAND > et al Additional Defendants fe - LOUISE CAULKINS GLADYS A. HASKINS ee COM ON Plaintiffs Se ee V. Ne ) Se PLEAS PITTSBURGH CORNING CORPORATION et al Defendants - - ~~ - - -~ - - ~- - - - - - = - - - 8 DARLENE SMITH Executrix of the e Estate of Raymond D. Smith Deceased Ne Plaintiff Ne ) V. 203CP41759 > PITTSBURGH CORNING CORPORATION ON et al Defendants ) Deposition of Mr. JAMES ARTHUR BOWES NICHOLS produced sworn and examined the 29th day of August 1984 at the offices of Messrs Linklater & Paines 59-67 Gresham Street London England Mavis Ross deputising for Walter H. Clark of 24 Chancery Lane London WC2A 1LS England acted as Reporter i ne cement ees | ge ELECTRONICALY What did you do after 1972 ELECTRONICALY [ ELCTRONIAY 2 A I resigned from Charter and joined Anglo American 12 Corporation of South Africa on 4 Q Where was that FILED == FILED 5 A In Johannesburg - 6 Q What position did you take with Anglo American 2023 i A I was appointed as a Divisional Manager within the Finance Oct 18 10:31 Division of the Chairman's Office Q Who was the Chairman at that time in 1972 AM 10 A Harry Oppenheimer and I remained in that position for abo RICHLAND 11 a year 12 What was your next position - COMON 13 A Then I was transferred into the Coal Division 14 Q Of Anglo American 15 A Yes still working for Anglo American PLEAS - 16 Q In Johannesburg 17 A In Johannesburg initially as Financial Manager of the Coal 203CP41759 18 Division and a year later I was appointed Financial 19 Director of the Coal Division but in fact it was the ers 20 same job 21 Q You got a new title = 22 A Yes 25 How long did you remain in that job 24 A Until 1982 [ 25 Q Then what did you do 26 L L 27 28 W. H. CLARK URT REPORTER im A Then I joined Alexander Shand Q How did you get the job with Anglo American in 1972 A As you know Anglo and Charter have common investments 9 for example Cleveland Potash and I had done a lot of work 2 on Cleveland Potash and had thereby come in contact with [ 3 quite a lot of the senior people from Anglo American They ELCTRONIAY 4 knew I had lived in Africa so there was a common 1 FILED 5 understanding if you like I had presented figures at - 6 various meetings various times about various companies an 2023 Oct it culminated in an invitation for me to go out to 18 Johannesburg and work there 10:31 Q Who extended that invitation to you AM - 10 A Julian Thompson mone RICHLAND 11 Q What was his position 12 A At that time he was certainly in charge of the Finance - COMON 13 Division of the Chairman's Office of Anglo American and L 14 I believe he was a Director of Anglo American 15 How did you in 1982 get the job with Alexander Shand PLEAS - 16 I had in my last few years in South Africa thought that 17 it was time that I returned to the UK So I started to put 203CP41759 18 out feelers about the possibility of a transfer back to the 19 UK and that came about and I was offered this job in 20 Derbyshire ! 21 22 Where did you put out the feelers Jobs in a big group come about by knowing people and one 25 q 24 talks to people and uses one's contacts What do you mean when you say jobs in a big group 25 I am not so concerend about the jobs as I am your 26 definition of a big group 27 om 28 W. H. CLARK OURT REPORTER o Amongst people who work in Anglo and Charter there is a phrase the greater group 10 ELECTRONICAL Y To what does that refer ELECTRONICALY 2 In general terms it refers to the association that exists ELCTRONIAY = 3 in our minds of Charter American Did Alexander Shand fall somewhere within the greater FILED 1 50 group - 6 A It is a wholly subsidiary of Charter 2023 Oct Q Do you know how long it has been wholly owned by Charter 18 mE A About 1980 10:31 Q Prior to 1980 did Charter have any ownership interest in AM - 2 Alexander Shand 2 A No. RICHLAND- 2 None whatsoever 1 e s A very indirect interest in that Charter had a major COMON 14 shareholding in Selection Trust and Alexander Shand was PLEAS 15 a wholly subsidiary of Selection Trust - 16 wy 17 Do you know what Charter's interest in Selection Trust was in terms of percentage 18 19 eo 20 203CP41759 It was of the order of 30 per cent Where does Alexander Shand have facilities Within the United Kingdom and it now has a coal mining 21 == 22 operation in the USA and it has an associated company in Saudi Arabia It has a subsidiary company in Malaysia 23 and it carries on civil engineering contracts from time to 24 time in the Middle East 25 What does it do here in the UK 26 It is a civil engineering company with interest in open- 27 cast coal mining and some minor engineering interests 28 W. H. CLARK P'IRT REPORTER 11 | an ELECTRONICAL Y important investment in Rhodesian Anglo American I went ELECTRONICALY out to Africa as a representative of Charter if you like 3 in about 1970 I think it was and I went to Rhodesia and ELCTRONIAY South Africa so I met the South African people there FILED 5 The Anglo American South African people - 6 Yes 2023 Oct While you were in South Africa in 1970 did you have any 18 dealings with Cape Asbestos and its subsidiaries 10:31 there I cannot swear to the date 1970 I might be wrong AM - 10 I certainly never went to any of their plants or mines RICHLAND 11 I did visit their office in Johannesburg - 12 Which company was it who had the office in South Africa COMON 13 Was it Cape Asbestos itself or one of its subsidiaries 14 I do not know legally which company it was It was the 15 Head Office of Cape's operations in South Africa PLEAS - 16 Who did you meet there 17 I think it was a man called McKertan but I cannot swear 203CP41759 . 18 to it 19 A Anybody other than him 20 A I do not recall anyone else 2 Q What was the purpose of the call 2 A It was a purely social call e 87 2 Q Did you conduct any business whilst you were at the Cape 2 Asbestos offices L eoe No e 25 A I did not L 26 Other than this visit to the Cape Asbestos office in 27 Johannesburg in approxiamtely 1970 have you had any other rt 28 W. H. CLARK CURT REPORTER contact with Cape Asbestos in South Africa 60 - ELECTRONICAL Y A No. 1 ELECTRONICALY ELCTRONIAY [ Q That includes during the time you were living in South 2 ~ Africa and working for Anglo American 1 3 A That is correct no other contact 4 FILED Q You mentioned the term the greater group during your [ 5 - 6 testimony this morning Again correct me if I am wrong 2023 r but you indicated that it was a term used by people within Oct 7 18 the Group to include Anglo American and Charter 8 1 10:31 A Yes 9 AM - T Q Does the term also include the De Beers company 10 RICHLAND A Generally yes 11 _ Q Does that term as it is generally used within the Group - 12 also include Minorco 1 COMON 13 A The time when I was in the Charter and Anglo fields 14 1 15 Minorca did not exist so I do not know what the answer to PLEAS - that question is 16 -- -- Q You are back in the Group now are you not working for 17 Alexander Shand 203CP41759 18 A Yes but I am not in the central financial field now 19 You do not know whether that term today would include ! 20 Minorca as it is generally used A I honestly do not know 22 _ Q Do you know where that term originated 25 A I do not know where it originated no 24 [ Is it a term that you heard used throughout the time that 25 26 L 27 you have been employed since you started with Charter in 1966 k 28 A Yes indeed you will see it in these documents that are W. H. CLARK EZURT REPORTER before you 61 = [ 10 11 Sor 12 13 14 1 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 25 24 - 25 A 26 Q 27 28 ..W H. CLARK etBURT REPORTER er Mr. Nichols was there a person who preceded you in your ELCTRONIAY job with Charter with Central Financial Services No. That was a new thing I joined Charter one year after it was formed and there was no predecessor FILED Do you know who performed the function of analysing or - monitoring the strategic investments of Charter prior to 2023 Oct your employment with Charter 18 I do not think they were handleidn that way in the year 10:31 that Charter existed before I joined them AM - When you came to Charter in 1966 was there a repository of RICHLAND information or documents available for your review - concerning Cape Asbestos COMON Not that I ever saw Did you start out then afresh in your investigation of PLEAS Cape Asbestos when you came to the Company in 1966 PLEAS - That is correct There were no documents at the Company that you had an 203CP41759 awareness of that you could utilise to familiarise yourself with the Company 203CP401759 Nothing Do you know who within the Charter organisation made the decision to increase Charter's holding in the Cape stock from 16 per cent to 25 per cent during the period 1965 to _ 196.9 ._7- It was a decision of the Executive Committee Do you know whether it was any particular person on the Executive Committee who proposed and pursued that No it was a Committee decision 62