For a man who spearheaded his company's A$575 million (about HK$2.4 billion) investment in failed Australian telecommunications firm One.Tel, Lachlan Murdoch was remarkably relaxed about what was happening at the company.
His involvement in One.Tel was detailed over three days before last week's legal inquiry into the collapse in Sydney. Mr Murdoch concedes his memory was 'inaccurate' in recalling trigger points for US$2 million bonuses for One.Tel's executive directors and that he did not question why the company changed its accounting practices in 1999.
Even complaints about the company's disclosure from the corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, did not ruffle him.
While his friend and fellow non-executive One.Tel director James Packer was receiving daily updates on One.Tel's cash position in its last days, Mr Murdoch admitted he was following the company through newspaper reports.
Nor had it concerned him unduly when the value of News Corp's investment began to slide. He had accepted Mr Packer's assurances and those of One.Tel founder and chief Jodee Rich that these were temporary problems of 'timing' and the company's cash flow crisis could be turned around.
So when One.Tel imploded at the end of May last year, Mr Murdoch says he had only been warned four weeks earlier that the company was in trouble. In Germany on business, he fielded a call on his mobile from Mr Packer and was told that One.Tel's cash projects were out by A$100 million or so.
