Barrick Gold (CIA/Mafia Front) Co-Chairman Paid $17-million in 2012

[Peter Lemkin]

Barrick Gold (CIA/Mafia Front) Co-Chairman Paid Staggering $17-million in 2012, as Company gets Generous with Executives
By Peter Koven / The Financial PostApril 6th

" … Mr. Thornton is familiar with high compensation, as he is a former president of Goldman Sachs. He also has very close business ties in China, a key source of capital for the mining sector and a region where Mr. Munk wants to grow Barrick's footprint. … "

Also see: "RUPERT MURDOCH'S MAFIA/COCAINE CONNECTION, ADNAN KHASHOGGI AND BARRICK GOLD"

"Barrick Gold Chairman Peter Munk Defends Augusto Pinochet & Gang Rape in New Guinea"

TORONTO When John Thornton [a director at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.] accepted the role of co-chairman at Barrick Gold Corp. last year, the company certainly showed him its gratitude.

Mr. Thornton was paid a staggering US$17-million in 2012, his first year with Barrick, according to a proxy circular filed by the company. That includes an US$11.9-million "special cash sign-on payment" for him to buy Barrick shares on the open market.

The size of this signing bonus appears to be unprecedented for a director in Corporate Canada, according to governance experts. It is one of many generous payouts Barrick made to officers and directors last year, even though its stock price plunged 24.6%.

"For a director, that [signing bonus] would be unheard of, or astronomical, or whatever kind of word you want to use," said Stephen Griggs, head of Underwood Capital Partners and the former executive director of the Canadian Coalition of Good Governance.

"For a director, that [signing bonus] would be unheard of, or astronomical, or whatever kind of word you want to use … "

However, he noted that Barrick's chairman is really an executive chairman, as Peter Munk takes a very hands-on role. Mr. Thornton, 59, is viewed as Mr. Munk's likely successor, and is being treated like an executive rather than a director.

"In the capacity of an executive of the company, it's certainly also a very high number. But keep in mind that Barrick has a long history of paying its very senior executives very large amounts of money," Mr. Griggs said.
Other Barrick leaders also received hefty payouts in 2012. Mr. Munk's salary increased 37% from 2011, and his total compensation was nearly US$4.3-million. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who has been a Barrick director since 1993, received $2.5-million (including a $1-million bonus) as he took on a new role as senior advisor of global affairs for the company. And former CEO Aaron Regent received US$12-million, mostly from a generous severance package after he was fired last June.

It was a much rougher year for Barrick's shareholders. The world's biggest gold miner reported a net loss of US$670-million after taking a US$3.8-billion writedown on the Lumwana mine, acquired in the vastly overpriced takeover of Equinox Minerals Ltd. Toronto-based Barrick cut or deferred US$4-billion of capital spending and made a commitment to focus on investor returns going forward.

Mr. Thornton is familiar with high compensation, as he is a former president of Goldman Sachs. He also has very close business ties in China, a key source of capital for the mining sector and a region where Mr. Munk wants to grow Barrick's footprint. "We need someone with the drive, the ambition, the ability, the international experience and the contacts that John can offer," he said in a prepared statement.

John Ing, president and gold analyst at Maison Placements Canada, said the Barrick board is very "Peter-Centric" and will need a broader overhaul as Mr. Munk, 85, approaches his retirement. Mr. Thornton's appointment is just one step in that process.

"As far as John Thornton's compensation goes, if he or anybody can turn around Barrick, it's miniscule if they are successful," Mr. Ing said.

Mr. Thornton was appointed to the board in February 2012 and was named co-chairman on June 6, the same day Mr. Regent was fired and Jamie Sokalsky was named CEO.

In addition to the US$11.9-million signing bonus, Mr. Thornton's compensation included US$1.4-million in salary, a "one-time lump sum" payment of US$1.4-million for his services as co-chairman, an annual performance incentive payment of US$1.4-million, and a special award of restricted share units worth $2-million. His base salary for 2013 is US$2.5-million.

http://business.financialpost.com/2013/0...xecutives/

[David Guyatt]

Being a "likely successor" to Peter Munk will take some doing.

About Peter Munk

Peter Munk, a former stereo manufacturer with his company Clairtone, first made a splash in the Canadian press when he disposed of his shares in the company shortly before it was declared insolvent. As founder and chairman of Barrick Gold, he now leads the world's largest gold mining company (which boasts the highest paid CEO in Canada). His fortune has allowed him to buy a reputation as a philanthropist and he has even been honored by the Canadian government by receiving the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honor.


However, a look into Munk's political connections reveals a shady past with questionable connections. For instance, former US President and CIA director George Bush Sr. was the former chairman of Barrick's International Advisory Board, a post likely connected to the honorary degree he received from the University of Toronto in 1997. Gustavo Ciscneros, a Venezuelan Media mogul implicated in the coup attempt against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, sits on Barrick's board of directors. And Adnan Khashoggi, a notorious Saudi arms dealer and known conduit in the Iran-Contra Scandal, was one of Barrick's first major financiers. In fact, when Peter Munk was asked why he named former PM Brian Mulroney to sit on his board of directors, he famously responded, "he knows every dictator in the world on a first-name basis."


With the help of grassroots campaigning, Munk's own arrogance, and technology allowing communities impacted by Barrick's operations to have their voice heard, Munk's image as a philanthropist is quickly giving way to a reputation as a racist and a greedy tycoon. When Toronto's NOW magazine chose their year's top sell-outs (as in selling your soul to the devil), Munk is the only candidate that ranked alongside Mayor Rob Ford at the top of the list.


SOME CHOICE MUNKISMS


â–ª On Feb 18 2011, in response to Barrick Security personnel being implicated in the gang rape of local women in Porgera, Papua New Guinea, Munk was quoted in the Globe and Mail saying that it would be impossible to police the behaviour of 5,550 employees, particularly in countries where, "gang rape is a cultural habit."


note: Impacted communities from PNG have traveled to Barrick's AGM in Toronto every year since 2008 to complain of human rights abuses at the hands of Barrick Security, such as gang rapes, only to have these allegations repeatedly denied by Barrick Gold.


â–ª At a shareholders' meeting in Toronto on May 9, 1996, Peter Munk, Chairman of Barrick Gold corporation, praised General Augusto Pinochet for "trans- forming Chile from a wealth-destroying socialist state to a capital-friendly model that is being copied around the world."

Regarding Pinochet's human rights record Munk said, "they can put people in jail, I have no comment on that, I think that may be true…I think [the end justifies the means] because it brought wealth to an enormous number of people. If you ask somebody who is in jail, he'll say no. But that's the wonderful thing about our world; we can have the freedom to disagree."


▪ To defend his praise of Pinochet, Peter Munk is quoted in Time Magazine saying, "Maybe I'm less sensitive to these issues because I see that what people need first is economic security, and only when they have that can they afford to focus on human rights." The alternative to liberalized economies, he argues, "is the true enslavement of the people."check out peter munk in his own words… (background slideshow courtesy of ProtestBarrick.net)

General Pinochet, has obviously been maligned in the above piece, because we all know he was really soft and cuddly as can be seen in the following image:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4578[/ATTACH]

Augusto Pinochet

The General passed away in 2006, and at long last has now been joined by his girlfriend-in-coffin-waiting, Mrga Thatchula. May they live happily ever after in the ranks of the Undead. Being Undead is a "cultural habit', don't you know.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4579[/ATTACH]
Peter Munkster

Judging by the foregoing image, I think Peter Munkster might've already been bitten? Still, "the end justifies the means". So that's alright then.

Just saying...