Admiralty Resources director Phillip Thomas has launched a legal action on behalf of Panopus, a Malaysian-based company of which he is also a director, alleging that Australia and New Zealand Banking Group or ANZ Nominees stopped 23.25 million Admiralty shares being returned to Panopus in the days before Opes Prime collapsed. The claim was filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Wednesday and lists Opes Prime, ANZ Banking Group and ANZ Nominees as defendants.

Panopus had provided the Admiralty shares to Opes Prime as collateral when Mr Thomas sought further funds from it last June. Mr Thomas had borrowed $2.85 million from Opes Prime when it entered voluntary administration on March 27.