Former Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall was "absolutely devastated'' his one-time colleague Doug White had labelled him a dodgy git and megalomaniac at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Pike River mining disaster, his lawyer says.
Mr White, the former mine general manager, was on the stand at the Greymouth Courthouse today for a third gruelling day of testimony, and this morning faced intense cross-examination from Mr Whittall's lawyer Stacey Shortall.
Yesterday, the commission saw the summary of a police interview in which Mr White described his former boss as a "megalomaniac'' and "dictatorial''.
But today Ms Shortall read from the transcript, in which Mr White immediately followed that statement by saying: "But to talk to the bloke on a one to one basis, he's the nicest bloke you'll meet in the world.''
She said her client was "absolutely devastated'' to learn overnight that Mr White felt that way about him.
The comments prompted mock sighs from some family members listening in the public gallery.
''(But) he did lie,'' Mr White said, referring to when Mr Whittall blamed him for a stock price drop.
Mr White said his checks showed the share price was already falling when he gave stockbrokers a tour of the mine.
However, Mr White said he was not suggesting Mr Whittall he had lied about mine safety.
Under cross-examination, he stood by his comments about the departure of the original Pike River Coal chief executive Gordon Ward shortly before the disaster, saying that days before Mr Ward left, the company chairman John Dow had complained about him.
"It seemed that someone had done a number on someone. There was a lot of speculation around the workforce at that time ... the company was struggling. Peter had said ... on a number of occasions he wasn't sure if he would keep his job.
"He said Gordon (Ward) was sometimes difficult to get on with.''
Mr White said yesterday Mr Whittall "micro-managed'' things, but Ms Shortall said today that Mr Whittall's boss, Gordon Ward, required him to sign off on every invoice.
Mr White said he never imagined his personal emails, in which he called Mr Whittall a "dodgy git'' who blamed others for his stuff ups, would be aired publicly.
"I don't regret it - it was an email between myself and a personal friend,'' Mr White said.
The inquiry has heard evidence about how many of the fixed gas sensors underground were not working, or calibrated.
However, Ms Shortall also produced a map showing an array of machine-mounted gas sensors which were underground at the time of the November 19 explosion.
Only one month before the explosion someone had crimped the main radiator hose on a diesel driftrunner to stop the machine shutting down if it overheated.
That driftrunner was underground the day of the disaster.
The hearing continues.
- Laura Mills of the Greymouth Star
