The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 86

H2 ti ie Vancouver sun. Friday, june 4. 2004 BUSINESS BUSINESS B.C. 'Be patient', bank urges irate customers are concerned that they visit their local branch or phone 1-800-769-2511, where they can speak with one of our representatives who will help them." The Ontario government confirmed the majority of its 62,000 employees will be affected by the payroll delay, which RBC had previously said would be caught up by Thursday. The federal government, provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and City of Toronto were also reported to be among those affected.

But luck was on the side of employees at the Corporation of Delta, where the bi-weekly payroll ran last week. "We're home free," said payroll supervisor Chris Johnston. "I'm glad it's not our week." The B.C. Ministry of Finance said Thursday that the province does not use the Royal Bank for payroll and banking. Royal spokeswoman Judi Levita said the bank cannot discuss details of its customers' accounts for privacy reasons, but confirmed any public-sector or private-sector employers who do their payrolls with Royal would be affected.

"We appreciate that our clients have been extremely patient and want to assure them that their money is safe and secure," said Rod Pennycook, RBC executive vice-president. "Our systems are running well and we are making good progress. In addition, we are continuing to be extremely thorough to ensure that all transactions are correctly reflected in client account balances." puter system is also causing major delays in processing and clearing cheques. The problems occurred May 31 during a regular upgrade of the system, RBC public affairs official Lynn Hatcher-Brandt said Thursday. "The problem is national in scope, and in British Columbia it will affect a significant number of our clients," she said.

Hatcher-Brandt said that transactions made before June 1 have been processed. "Verification of all June 2 transactions is continuing, and we expect to have them reflected in client balances by Friday," she said. Transactions that took place Thursday or today "should be caught up by the weekend," she said. "We are recommending to people who From HI "It caused quite a number of uncomfortable situations," he said, adding that he tried unsuccessfully to withdraw cash from an ATM beginning at 10 p.m. Wednesday.

"It's outrageous. I thought these big banks have back-up systems on top of back-up systems to make sure something like this doesn't happen. "I was told that all U.S. government cheques are cleared through the Royal before being sent on to the other banks, so this has caused a lot of disruption to many people. There are millions of people in Canada who get cheques from the U.S." The glitch in the Royal's national com Stock promoter handcuffed and gagged, court told Meridex backs off merger Richmond Meridex Software Corp.

has backed off from its previously announced plan to buy Ottawa-based Titan Consulting Group, although the two companies are work-, ing on establishing a strategic sales alliance instead of a merger. Titan provides services in the specialized niche of enterprise resource planning a means of using computers to track and manage core business functions and related technologies. Meridex said it is negotiating an alliance in which Titan will sell the Vancouver-area software company's products and other software from Ascential Software to Titan's customers. Gold firms join forces Vancouver MinMet Pic, Gold Fields Ltd, Placer Dome Inc. and Wellington Cove Explorations Ltd.

will combine assets and financing to create a new company listed in Toronto that will explore for gold in the Dominican Republic. MinMet will own 58 per cent of GoldQuest Mining Corp. after contributing the assets of its Exploration Discovery Latin America (Panama) Inc. unit, the Dublin-based company said in a statement. Johannesburg-based Gold Fields is giving assets and $860,000 for a 9.25 percent holding.

Placer Dome, based in Vancouver, is investing $500,000 in return for a 4.3 per-cent holding. Wellington's original shareholders will end up with five per cent of GoldQuest. The owners of the remaining shares weren't disclosed. Blackstone acquires nickel deposit Vancouver Blackstone Ventures Inc. has acquired the Kenbridge nickel deposit in northern Ontario from Falconbridge Ltd.

Vancouver-based Blackstone said Thursday it has struck a share swap deal to buy 97 per cent of Kenbridge Nickel Mines Ltd. from Toronto-based Falconbridge. Kenbridge's main asset is a nickel-copper deposit about 70 kilometres southeast of Kenora, Ont. moving, Godsy was punched and repeatedly shocked with an electrical device. At one point, Godsy was told that one of his toes would be cut off, She said Godsy eventually agreed to pay Shaw $500,000 and, still bound and blindfolded, arranged for Shaw to pick up $30,000 cash at a Royal Bank.

Then, after several hours of confinement, he was released about three kilometres from where he was abducted. Shaw's lawyer, Tim Elian, acknowledged that Shaw threatened Godsy Shaw has pleaded guilty to this charge but insisted that his client intended the meeting to be a "pre-litigation settlement discussion" and had no plans to kidnap Godsy or extort any money from him. dbainespng.canwest.com pate, but he declined. On Sept. 16, Shaw met Godsy at the Starbucks coffee shop at Dunbar and West 29th Ave.

and then lured him into a nearby recreational vehicle on the pretense of showing him some new technology. The discussion quickly became heated and Godsy was accosted by a man wearing a baseball cap who handcuffed him and placed duct tape over his mouth and eyes. Godsy later identified the man in a police photograph and in court as Hahn, 54, a friend of Shaw's. Godsy testified there was a third man in the vehicle he did not see, but who spoke with a French-Canadian accent. In her closing remarks, Ahrens said they demanded $2 million or they would drive Godsy to a farm and dump him in a vat of acid and he would "disappear." She said that, while the vehicle was He negotiated with Godsy to sell the technology to Unity Wireless which traded on the OTC Bulletin Board and the TSX Venture Exchange, for $135,000 and 500,000 restricted shares.

Godsy was the company's largest shareholder. In February 2000, he became chairman and chief executive officer and the stock soared to $5.50 US, but the company suffered heavy losses and slumped to a low of 37 cents by year end, according to trading records. Shaw accused Godsy of orchestrating a "pump and dump" artificially inflating the share value through false representations and then dumping his shares on the open market through offshore accounts. He claimed that this depressed the stock price and rendered his shares worthless. Godsy earlier testified that other shareholders were involved in a pump-and-dump scheme and invited him to partici From HI Under duress, Godsy agreed to settle the matter by immediately paying Shaw $30,000 cash and another $470,000 within a few days, she told court.

However, after he was released, Godsy went to police, who subsequently arrested and charged Shaw and Hahn with kidnapping, extortion, assault causing body harm and uttering threats. The third man, whose identity remains a mystery, was never apprehended. The trial began on May 25 and concluded Thursday with closing arguments. The judge has reserved his decision until June 18. Evidence at trial was that Shaw, 58, invented a traffic-control device that could detect an approaching emergency siren and automatically turn traffic lights green to allow it to pass.

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