Oil exec went from a corporate ‘heavy hitter’ to ‘physically ill’ due to alleged bullying

Former Oil Search executive Ayten Saridas alerted her then boss and the company’s CFO statements it was making to the market were ‘misleading’ but she was ignored, a civil trial has heard.

Former Oil Search executive Atyen Saridas outside the NSW Supreme Court on day one of her court case. Picture: Angelica Snowden

Former Oil Search executive Ayten Saridas told her ex boss and chief financial officer that statements the company made to the market were “misleading” but they refused to listen to her concerns about its financial issues, a court has heard.

Ms Saridas, who quit as chief financial officer after just three months in 2020, has also levelled bullying claims against ex-managing director Keiran Wulff and outgoing CFO Stephen Gardiner.

Her barrister, Alec Leopold, SC, told the NSW Supreme Court on day one of her civil trial that there was a culture of “not wanting to comply with good corporate governance” within the company.

Mr Leopold said his client raised concerns early that the company’s emergency equity raising in April 2020 was insufficient, that lenders were pulling back from investing in oil and gas due to environmental, social and governance concerns, and that the company should look for alternative sources of capital.

FormerOil Search chief executive Dr Keiran Wulff. Picture: Jane Dempster

As well, Ms Saridas told Dr Wulff and Mr Gardiner in 2020 the ASX-listed company should have made two disclosures to the market but they ignored her, the court was told.

These were that a $600m corporate facility was continued to be included in available liquidity, when $400m of that was tied up. And “no distributions” would come from the company’s Papua New Guinea assets in the next 18 months from late 2020.

Santos sealed a $22bn merger with Oil Search in December 2021.

Ms Saridas is suing for damages due to mental anguish and distress, plus costs for the company allegedly breaching her contract. Santos will have to pay any damages.

The court heard Ms Saridas made some amendments to proposed announcements to the market, but they were overruled.

“The announcements were released with overly positive commentary on the financial position of the company,” Mr Leopold said.

Mr Leopold said Ms Saridas made statements that included “a strong balance sheet and substantial liquidity were in my view misleading”.

“She identified a lot of issues and nobody seemed to want to know about it,” he said.

During a meeting with human resources, the court heard Ms Saridas was in tears, felt “undermined” and said she had “little options” left but to resign.

“I left a high-profile role where I was valued. My reputation will be damaged after leaving in such a short time. There are serious issues around the financial state of the company,” she allegedly said.

Ms Saridas first lodged her case in November 2021, alleging she was subjected to “bullying, intimidatory conduct, both physical and psychological, harassment, belittlement and disrespectful conduct at the hands” of Dr Wulff and Mr Gardiner.

Mr Leopold told the court that before his client was headhunted by Oil Search, she was an experienced executive in the oil and gas industry.

“She was a ‘heavy hitter’ in the executive world with major roles in major companies,” he said. They included Woolworths, Santos and US company Coronado.

Mr Saridas was “cajoled” into giving up her role as CFO with Coronado – where she was earning a $900,000 salary – and was targeted because of her experience in capital raising and major debt restructuring.

But her relationships with Dr Wulff and Mr Gardiner turned bad quickly, the court heard.

“She started as CFO designate. We also say … one of the significant things about this case is that the plaintiff’s relationship with Mr Gardiner … was fraught at best,” Mr Leopold said.

“Her relationship with (Mr Wulff) was also an unhappy one.”

He said a report into issues she was raising with Dr Wulff and Mr Gardiner was canvassed in a Kingston Reid investigation that concluded no specific allegations of bullying were made but acknowledged remarks were made that caused Ms Saridas to be “stressed and physically ill”.

They included that Dr Wulff allegedly said Ms Saridas did not have the “skill set he needed” and “he should have had psychometric testing done on her”.

Four other executives also felt “belittled” by Dr Wulff, according to the report.

Mr Leopold said those claims were “ridiculous” and said the “heart of the problem” for Ms Saridas was Mr Gardiner, who he said failed to introduce her to the business and include her in key decision making and was “openly hostile” towards her.

The court heard a colleague rolled her eyes at Ms Saridas in a meeting and no one called her out.

Mr Leopold said his client made a total of 10 pleaded disclosures to the company that amounted to disclosures which should have been made under the whistleblower provisions in the corporations act.

Mr Wulff abruptly resigned from the Papua New Guinea LNG producer on July 19, 2021 following issues raised over inappropriate behaviour, including a whistleblower complaint in mid-June.

The case continues.