Magnis Energy chairman Frank Poullas’s ‘drug boss’ dealings

Text messages suggest Magnis Energy executive chairman Frank Poullas had dealings with alleged drug smuggling kingpin Hakan Arif.

Magnis Energy chairman Frank Poullas. Picture: Britta Campion

Magnis Energy executive chairman Frank Poullas had dealings with alleged drug smuggling kingpin Hakan Arif, text message correspondence obtained by The Australian suggests.

The leaked messages, sent on the WhatsApp platform in 2018, contradict assertions from the company that it never had “any engagement” with the alleged criminal – who remains wanted by Australian authorities.

In one message sent in December 2018, Mr Poullas wrote: “Hakan and Erdal have asked for (then Magnis chief executive) Frank Houllis and I to attend.”

In another, discussing a proposed deal with the Turkish government, he writes: “Make sure the agreement talks about 15GWh, funding studies and engineering and the government will provide the land … I’m sure Hakan has it all worked out.”

The Australian on Monday reported that senior employees had raised concerns about Arif’s possible engagement with Magnis, while one director – ex-Macquarie executive Warwick Smith – had quit the board partly due to his worry about Arif’s presence.

Arif was named in Dubai court documents as the leader of a drug-smuggling ring allegedly attempting to ship hundreds of millions of dollars in cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine to Australia, and is a priority target for the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. He is ­believed to be in Turkey.

Magnis, in an ASX statement released on Monday, said the ­assertions in The Australian’s report were false. “Magins (sic) has never had any engagement with Mr Arif and has never made any payment to him,” it reads.

A Magnis spokesman said it was difficult to search old records, but added that the company had “not at any stage made any investments … or paid any persons in Turkey to review or facilitate investment introductions”. “The company never engaged Hakan Arif and thus has no relationship with him nor is it in contact with him today,” he said.

Magnis began considering the possibility of opening an electric batteries plant in Turkey in 2017. Mr Bez joined the company as it considered that proposal.

The Australian is not suggesting Mr Poullas engaged in any criminal activity, only that he was in contact with Arif. The project in Turkey did not proceed.

In another WhatsApp group that included Mr Houllis and other executives, a sender named “Hakan Afri” writes: “I think a draft is a good start … Basically Turkey is giving us what we need but will discuss which partners an (sic) what investment an (sic) know how will be contributed.”

Mr Houllis confirmed to The Australian on Wednesday that he had travelled to Turkey and met someone “but he didn’t go by the name of Hakan”. “The meetings there were meeting things like the equivalent of Telstra, the government people, and university people,” Mr Houllis said.

“I didn’t concern myself with a lot of stuff Frank Poullas done.”

“There was a guy in track pants we met. The guy in track pants was Australian.”

 

Another former Magnis director, Ulrich Bez, told The Australian he had left after discovering the links with Arif. “I left Magnis … as I did not want to be involved in a company with close contact to drugs,” Mr Bez, the long-time chief executive of Aston Martin until 2013, said.

Magnis director Peter Tsegas has previously confirmed he met Arif, although he says it was on only one occasion.

“I met him once … I know a lot of Turkish people, I do a lot of work with the Turkish embassy,” Mr Tsegas told The Australian late last month.

Magnis has a controlling interest in Imperium3, a company building a battery plant in New York, and a smaller holding in the company that owns the patents underpinning the technology.

It has also advanced plans to build a batteries plant in Townsville with the assistance of former Macquarie executive Bill Moss.

Magnis shares fell 5 per cent on Wednesday to close at 48c – they are now down more than 14 per cent in the last five days.

But the company has enjoyed support from investors, with the stock rising 153 per cent this year.

The company told the ASX earlier this year that it was expecting revenues from Imperium3 to reach $80m in 2022, before rising to $1.8bn by 2027.