Former Mineral Resources chairman Peter Wade failed to disclose a 10-year tax evasion scheme established by billionaire managing director Chris Ellison that enriched the pair and three other founding executives but cost the mining company’s shareholders more than $7 million.

Mr Wade was a key member of the MinRes board audit committee from 2006 to 2011 but did not disclose that the five senior executives were using a British Virgin Islands-domiciled company to buy machinery with shareholder funds and on-sell the equipment to the West Australian iron ore and lithium miner at a high mark-up.