BlueRock Diamonds says claims over expenses by former CEO are 'without merit'

Shares fell over 8% in BlueRock Diamonds on Monday as the miner said that following an investigation over claims for expenses at its one of its subsidiaries by a former chief executive were “without merit”.

The AIM-listed company said that following legal advice in South Africa it has been advised that based on information currently available to them the “claims are without merit”.

In November 2016, the company contacted its former chief executive Riaan Visser, who left BlueRock and its operating subsidiary Kareevlei Mining in September, in connection with two creditor balances and he said that, while not in his name, these were amounts due to him.

Visser said that he is owed 3.78m rand (about £232,000) largely related to advances made by him to Kareevlei between February 2015 and January 2016, and 987,525 rand (£60,500) for Kareevlei’s use of a generator owned by a company controlled by him.

BlueRock investigated these claims and said that while advances appear to have been received by Kareevlei, the company has requested further information from Visser but received no response or legal claim from him.

The company said that the creditor balances in relation to the alleged advances were included in the relevant accounts of the BlueRock but were largely classified as accrued expenses related to uninvoiced third party plant development expenditure.

Shares in BlueRock Diamonds were down 8.89% to 4.10p at 0818 GMT.