The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has imposed a seven-year director and officer ban on former High Plains Energy Inc. president and chief operating officer Benhard Anderson for his role in the issuance of materially misleading High Plains’ news releases.

An ASC panel also ordered Anderson to pay an administrative penalty of $100,000 and $20,000 in costs.

Between July 2005 and January 2006, High Plains issued six news releases that contained materially misleading and untrue statements about the company’s oil and gas production rates. The ASC panel found that Anderson bore the principal responsibility for the issuance of the six news releases and that it was his responsibility to get to the bottom of the differences of opinion within the High Plains’ management team regarding the company’s stated production rates.

In its sanction decision, the ASC panel ruled that “Anderson’s misconduct certainly exposed High Plains investors to the risk of direct financial loss, and put at risk, more generally, investor confidence and market efficiency. This argues for significant sanction.”

The panel also noted that, in his handling of the six news releases, “Anderson demonstrated an altogether unsatisfactory approach to his duties as the senior officer and a director of a public company, and a seriously inadequate regard for Alberta investors and our capital market.”

Anderson resigned from his positions at High Plains in early April 2006.

IE