Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources and sacked executive Steven Pigozzo end lengthy legal battle

An agreement behind closed doors has abruptly concluded a bitter court stoush between Mineral Resources and Steven Pigozzo over suspect payments made by suppliers.

In a brief statement a spokesman for lawyers representing Mr Pigozzo said all legal proceedings between the two parties “have been settled on a confidential basis”.

“No further comment will be made,” he said.

A MinRes spokesman confirmed that “all legal matters relating to Mr Pigozzo have been settled” and reiterated that the terms of the settlement are confidential.

MinRes launched Federal Court action against Mr Pigozzo in May 2022, claiming the sacked procurement boss had breached his duties to not earn secret profits and to not put himself in conflicts of interest.

Mr Pigozzo hit back the next month with a legal action naming MinRes, Mr Ellison, the listed company’s co-founder Bob Gavranich, and long-time legal advisers at Bennett + Co.

MinRes tried, and failed, to muzzle media reporting of Mr Pigozzo’s legal claim.

The claim detailed allegations about MinRes’ non-disclosure of material in 2016 during litigation with Hampton Transport, alleged breaches of customs laws when importing COVID-19 equipment in 2020 and executives ignoring warnings about cost blow-outs at MinRes’ luxurious Osborne Park headquarters.

That statement of claim also revealed Mr Pigozzo was stood down in October 2021 pending a KPMG probe into the procurement process for MinRes’ Osborne Park headquarters.

Mr Pigozzo also alleged in further legal action lodged in August 2022 that he qualified for Corporations Act whistleblower protections.

He said in a statement at the time it had been a “very stressful time for me and my loved ones”.

“When you stand up and blow the whistle against a big corporation, it can be scary,” he said.

MinRes then launched its action against former in-house buyer Mile Vlajsavljevich in November 2022.

The company alleged Mr Pigozzo and Mr Vlajsavljevich were both involved in a covert commission arrangement with an equipment supplier.

MinRes has also claimed that Mr Pigozzo set up arrangements in 2020 to pocket commissions on potentially more than $8 million of sales from three approved Chinese suppliers.

The tit-for-tat legal battle would then escalate over the next 18 months.

In March this year the Supreme Court granted MinRes lawyers the go-ahead to use sensitive bank records to investigate payments by seven suppliers.

Relaxing the customarily tight restrictions on documents obtained by subpoenas, Justice Fiona Seaward said it was in the interests of justice that MinRes was able to talk to the suppliers using the Commonwealth Bank records.

Justice Seaward cleared the way for MinRes’ lawyers to use an entire spreadsheet provided by Commonwealth Bank covering transactions from July 2016 to June 2021 involving bank accounts linked to Mr Pigozzo.