THE two material breaches allegedly committed by CBH director Trevor Badger which led to the board asking him to resign were in relation to the investigation of ex-chairman Wally Newman's use of "inappropriate language" and behaviour towards women.
The board had originally said they would not reveal the details of the alleged breaches which led them to call for a Special General Meeting to have Mr Badger removed from his position.
However they backflipped on that stance last week and a Notice of Meeting, which was released on Thursday, included three pages detailing the director's alleged indiscretions, some of which dated back to 2012.
The notice stated that CBH and it's directors had, and continue to have a duty to protect the identity of the woman identified through the investigation.
"Trevor Badger was found by the Governance Committee to have deliberately disclosed the name of that woman to a CBH grower member," the notice said.
"The Governance Committee also found that Mr Badger had repeatedly engaged in conversation with growers in which he shared or confirmed the name of the woman and he had also repeatedly criticised the leadership and culture of the board, which undermined sitting board members."
The notice claimed that by disclosing the name of the woman, Mr Badger had recklessly exposed her to the risk of unwelcome and detrimental consequences.
Mr Badger rebuked the claims, claiming that while he did use the women's name and reveal the inappropriate language used by Mr Newman, it was in relation to other scenarios overheard by growers at the Australian Grains Industry Conference in 2017, not the select scenario that was reported by former director John Hassell and investigated by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"The fundamental piece that I need growers to understand is that I did use this woman's name in the conversation, but growers brought it up and it was about an incident that had not been reported to CBH," Mr Badger said.
"One of the growers described the chairman's behaviour as lecherous, a number of growers claimed it was inappropriate behaviour.
"I have also told the board that I have evidence of another director leaking to the media about this same issue, but the board refused to even listen to the voicemail."
CBH chairman Simon Stead said he did not consider the sudden decision to reveal the details of Mr Badger's breaches to be a backflip.
"When the decision was made, we gave Trevor a period of time to consider his resignation and when he came back to us and said he wanted to take it to the members, we had to begin preparation," Mr Stead said.
"We decided we needed to outline to the members, for their full understanding, that this is ongoing and repeated self-serving behaviour.
"It was a difficult decision for the board to go public with this, it's not a comfortable place for us to be on the front page of the paper with this sort of issue, but we're taking a long-term view of what is right for the members and for the future of CBH."
In accordance with the Co-operatives Act 2009 (WA), Mr Badger is entitled to put his case forward to the members by way of a written statement, which he has every intention of doing.
Mr Hassell, the former director who initially made the whistle-blower complaint against Mr Newman, said he was disappointed that the board have been stupid enough to go down this path.
"Once Wally had gone, they should have realised it was a personal vendetta, canned it and got on with the job of running the company," Mr Hassell said.
"Trevor Badger has only been given the phone numbers and mailing addresses of members, not their email addresses, so he's not been given a level playing field or the adequate chance to defend himself.
"It's truly filthy, dirty tactics from CBH and I'm appalled to see it."
Tammin grower Brad Jones has been vocal on the topic since Mr Newman's behaviour came to light and said the process for something as severe as disciplining a board member and asking them to resign should be outsourced.
"The findings of that external investigation should be reviewed by the chair, or the chair and a couple of board members, as a kangaroo court like the one we're seeing at the moment will inevitably lead to a conflict of interest," Mr Jones said.
"If they're willing to go all the way back to 2012 and talk about indiscretions from back then, they're really dredging for reason to try and get rid of him.
"It's starting to wreak of a personal vendetta from a narcissistic ex-chairman."
The Special General Meeting is set to be held on Friday, May 15, with members being asked not to attend the meeting in person due to COVID-19 and instead participate through live webcast or teleconference.
Members can complete a proxy form to provide specific instructions on how their vote is to be exercised and they are being urged to appoint the chairman of the meeting, who must follow their instructions, as their proxy.
Mr Badger also has a right to speak at the meeting and if he chooses to do so, it is the intention of the chairperson of the meeting to adjourn the meeting in order to afford members the chance to submit or vary their vote accordingly.
