Former Wollongong mining boss Arun Jagatramka will appeal against a Supreme Court order that he pay more than $12 million over the purchase and construction of the mansion at 64 Cliff Rd.
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In an email exchange with the Mercury from his home in India, Mr Jagatramka refuted the court's findings that he had not acted in the interests of company shareholders, and advised readers they could learn more by purchasing his newly published book My Selfie With Integrity.
Mr Jagatramka lived at the North Wollongong house after his then company, Gujarat NRE Coking Coal, built it and handed it to the executive chairman as an abode.
This was along with a million-dollar salary and two cars, one of which turned out to be a Bentley.
Justice Rein ordered he repay Wollongong Coal - formerly Gujarat NRE - more than $12 million, including almost $6 million in interest.
Contacted for comment on the case, Mr Jagatramka said he had always acted in the interests of shareholders.
"In the present circumstances due to the prevailing COVID-19 circumstances I have got time until next month to prepare and finalise my appeal," he said.
"My lawyers are in the midst of preparing and filing the same and since it is a sub judice matter it would not be proper of me to comment any further on the appeal."
He said he had enjoyed working in Australia because there was not corruption as at home - which would be detailed in My Selfie With Integrity.
"I have always been a man of integrity and have been fighting corruption in India for more than a decade based on my experience in Australia," he said.
"Needless to mention that I enjoyed working in Australia mainly due to the absence of corruption in daily life. I have always acted in the interest of all the stakeholders and particularly the employees and have fulfilled all my duties as director to the best of my abilities and within the confines of law.
"You can read more about it in my recently published book, My Selfie With Integrity." Notes describe the book as chronicling the life of a middle-class Calcutta boy who finds himself at the helm of a listed company.
He gets "slammed by the underbelly of corruption" but still he "pursues his true quest for integrity in a corrupt world" at home and abroad.
Ben Langford
Senior journalist writing on the environment. Opinion columnist, independent. We rely on your news tips so please, don't be shy to let us know what's going on.
Senior journalist writing on the environment. Opinion columnist, independent. We rely on your news tips so please, don't be shy to let us know what's going on.
