Four executives at Oil Search felt belittled by former managing director Keiran Wulff, including two whose health was affected, but his conduct failed to constitute bullying, according to an internal report done by the company’s law firm.
Dr Wulff is alleged to have told Ms Saridas she did not have the skills needed to work at Oil Search, that he had looked up her CV and did not think she could do the job. Ms Saridas has more than 30 years’ experience in international corporate finance, including stints as group treasurer at Woolworths, Lion Nathan and Santos, and as the chief financial officer of AWE Limited and Coronado Resources.
Referring to the report, Mr Leopold said: “A truly independent person might have taken out the sanitisation about bad conduct.” Ms Saridas initially raised concerns about Oil Search’s balance sheet in early July 2020, after being asked to attend a strategy meeting before she officially joined the company. The court heard that after the meeting, Ms Saridas told company secretary Michael Drew she was concerned Oil Search had not raised enough during a capital raise in April that year and cash flow, funding and gearing forecasts would need reviewing when she started.