‘Biden adviser’ Mona Dajani enhances the Magnis Energy mystique

When The Australian asked Magnis board member Mona Dajani about her work with the Biden administration, there was no response. But there was a reaction.

Magnis Energy chairman Frank Poullas. Picture: Britta Campion

Is Mona Dajani an adviser to the Biden administration?

That’s the question The Australian has attempted to have answered, without success, all week.

In March, Dajani became the most recent corporate high-flyer to join the Magnis Energy board – an event the ASX-listed lithium battery player said was key to a “significant growth phase”.

Dajani, a senior partner at New York-headquartered law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, was an “advisor to The Biden Administration and the US Department of Energy”, Magnis told investors at the time.

The appointment – along with former CPA president Richard Petty, ethical investment specialist Zarmeen Pavri and ex-ANZ Wealth portfolio manager Mungunthan Siva – was “significant and exciting for the company and its loyal shareholders”, Magnis chairman Frank Poullas said.  And Dajani’s arrival was sorely needed. Magnis – which owns 63 per cent of battery manufacturer Imperium3 and 10 per cent of Charge CCCV, which holds the intellectual property underpinning the new technology – had already lost a number of directors.

Former Macquarie executive Warwick Smith left the board after a year; ex-NSW deputy premier Troy Grant had stayed eight months. Both had been unhappy about the direction the company was heading.

Dajani’s appointment was a coup. She ran Pillsbury’s energy projects team and its renewable energy practice. It was a perfect fit for Magnis’s batteries, which the company says could eventually power everything from public transport to the defence force.

Not only was Dajani a high-powered lawyer, but she was also active on a number of influential boards including the American Council on Renewable Energy, the Arab Bankers Association of North America and the Energy Lawyers Network.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman senior partner Mona Dajani.

But Dajani’s biographies published by those organisations – or by Pillsbury – carry no mention of advisory work for the Biden administration. That disclosure was made by Magnis in ASX statements and later placed on the company’s website.

Earlier this month, The Australian asked Dajani about the nature of her advisory work with the Biden administration, and whether it was ongoing.

There was no response.

But there was a reaction.

Magnis, soon after that request, removed Dajani and her biography – which read “Mona is an advisor to the Biden Administration” – from a list of directors published on its website.

Last Wednesday, The Australian requested additional clarification and comment on why Dajani and her biography had been removed from the Magnis website.

Again there was no response, but there was a reaction.

Magnis removed the entire list of directors from public view. As of Sunday evening, it required a password to access. Poullas, who briefly answered his phone on Wednesday, said: “I’m instructed not to answer any questions.” He was having trouble with the connection, he said, before promising to call back.

He never did. Nor did he answer any further calls. And those are not the only calls Poullas has declined to answer.

The Magnis Energy directors page on its website, reproduced on September 26.

Magnis has, since 2017, been developing another plant – alongside a company chaired by former Macquarie executive Bill Moss – in Townsville. With a forecast opening date of January 2024, it would be a boon for the local economy. But when the Townsville Bulletin attempted to reach Poullas earlier this month, the Magnis chairman became evasive.

Despite assurances he would respond to questions after he had concluded a Zoom meeting, Poullas never rang back. “It does seem strange that the chair of a company involved in such significant projects in New York State and Townsville has not responded to media inquiries by the local newspaper,” said the Bulletin’s business editor Tony Raggatt.

An extract of Magnis Energy's ASX statement from March

The company also remained silent after The Australian reported that financial documents suggested one of Imperium3’s major customers – described by Magnis as a multinational with $898m in signed contracts – had few assets and no revenue.

That company, Sukh Energy, told Indian regulators it was in “the business of solar based lighting solutions to customers”. It was, according to Magnis, one of six companies that have signed binding agreements worth almost $700m with Imperium3.

But Magnis did have some news. Imperium3’s plant was 29 per cent complete, the company told the ASX on Thursday, 6 per cent higher than the last update – 23 days earlier.

An ASX spokesman said the exchange “always encourages investors to research and conduct due diligence on any company, and seek professional advice if needed”. “If ASX has concerns or seeks further information, we can issue a query, which we ordinarily release to market with the company’s response,” he said, adding he would encourage those interested in Magnis “to keep an eye out for market announcements”.