Noble steps up legal action against Vagner, Enlighten Ace

Noble Group has stepped up legal action against the former employee and the company it believes are behind Iceberg Research.

Noble Group has stepped up legal action against the former employee and the company it believes are behind Iceberg Research.

“Noble has today filed a summons to compel Arnaud Vagner & Enlighten Ace Limited to file their lists of documents and allow inspection of all discovery documents,” Noble said today.

Vagner, a former employee of base metals trader-producer Noble, and Enlighten Ace are believed by Noble to be behind Iceberg Research, the entity that has alleged Noble exploited accounting loopholes and intentionally misled credit agencies and investors. 

In March, Singapore-listed Noble started legal proceedings against Arnaud Vagner, whose employment was terminated by Noble in 2013, and Enlighten Ace.

“We look forward to the day he will need to defend himself and his actions in a court of law,” Noble ceo Yusuf Alireza said on Monday August 17.

The discovery process allows the parties involved to obtain information through a request for documents or depositions, before a trial takes place.

No further details on the documents or information requested by Noble are available.

Iceberg Research has declined to reveal the identity of its authors, and has not confirmed its connection with Arnaud Vagner.

In response to a request for comment from Metal Bulletin, Iceberg described the summons as “PR gesticulation” but did not give any details of its next move.

Noble’s share price closed at S$0.43 on the Singapore Exchange on Thursday August 20, down nearly 65% from its value since Iceberg’s first report was published in February.

Charlotte Radford
charlotte.radford@metalbulletin.com  
Twitter: @CRadford_MB