The Green/Fleiter confrontation took place at NewSat's May 29, 2014 board meeting in Melbourne. The videos also raise further questions about why corporate regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission failed to act on multiple warning signs last year about the company's governance and the unlawful trade of 17 million NewSat shares. ASIC is now investigating the company and a host of curious transactions. A hostile place With its financial outlook grim, its main financier in the US Government's EXIM bank demanding cost cutting and mounting concerns over conflicts of interest and basic governance, the NewSat boardroom in 2014 was a hostile place. On one side was Green and NewSat's founder and chief executive, the flamboyant Adrian Ballintine and his friend, NewSat's US-based director Chuck Ellison. On the other, was Fleiter and Andrew Plympton, the former St Kilda Football Club president, who were until June 30 last year two of NewSat's independent directors.

The Green/Fleiter confrontation took place at NewSat's May 29 2014 board meeting in Melbourne. Fleiter wanted to know more about payments being made to Green's son-in-law, John Stewart. At that time, NewSat was riddled with real or perceived conflicts of interest involving consultants. Richard Green (left) replied 'Well I might, yes' when asked if he was going to hit Brendan Fleiter (centre). An investment banker with Gresham at the time, Stewart had been advising NewSat's biggest shareholder and director, Singaporean businessman Ching Chiat Kwong, about loaning the company as much as $US10 million to keep it afloat. Ching had not dialled into the board meeting and Fleiter wanted to know who was going to speak about his proposal. NewSat's counsel Bill Abbott answered: "Well, what's his name, John Stewart." NewSat founder and chief executive Adrian Ballintine.

Fleiter asked whether Stewart was acting for, NewSat or Ching? Abbott told him that it was Ching. "You sure? Why is the company paying him [Stewart]," Fleiter demanded? I have never seen nor heard of more appalling corporate behaviour than at NewSat. BHP finance VP Brendan Rudd. With his son-in-law in Fleiter's sights, Green intervened. "Can we just get on with things rather than all this nitpicking that goes on on this bloody board? It is just pathetic frankly." "All of you. You're all the same," he added, waving a finger in Fleiter and Plympton's direction.

Fleiter tried to interject but Green was hell-bent on imposing his authority: "I'm chairing the meeting. You won't interrupt the meeting." "I am going to interrupt," Fleiter fired back. "You're not," said Green. But Fleiter ignored him, telling him "you're going to listen". 'You're both children' Next, Green, approaching 74 at the time, rose from his seat at the head of the board table and walked towards a bemused Fleiter in a manner the Australia Post deputy chairman found mildly threatening.

Board minutes show that Stewart wanted three million NewSat shares worth $1.2 million as payment for his "advisory services" on Ching's proposed cash injection. Not surprisingly, the size of Stewart's proposed fee was questioned by NewSat's independent directors. Ballintine, who had dialled in from overseas and could not see the confrontation, explained that Stewart was working for NewSat but also working closely with Ching's advisers. Fleiter told Ballintine that when he asked who Stewart was acting for "the chairman jumped down my throat". "Actually, since you can't see this, he stands up as if to intimidate me … starts shaking," Fleiter continued. Green retorted: "That's absolute nonsense. Just stop it will you please. Just pathetic. You're both children."

He then told Plympton, who had been silent so far, that he was the worst. Plympton wanted an explanation. "What are you saying I'm the worst for? Take control of yourself," he shouted at Green. Green told Plympton that he had been "talking too much". As the meeting returned to the question of just who Stewart was acting for, an exasperated Fleiter muttered "it's a bloody simple question". Devastating report

Shortly before the tumultuous May board meeting, Plympton and Fleiter drafted in former BHP Billiton finance vice president Brendan Rudd to examine company's management and governance. Rudd's devastating report, first revealed in February by Fairfax Media, would prove fatal for NewSat. Rudd found hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to Ballintine's Gold Coast-based Cresta Motor Yachts business. In addition, he found that several of NewSat's highly-paid consultants also happened to be either directors or shareholders in Cresta. Stewart, the subject of so much discussion at the board meeting, was also a shareholder in Cresta. As was NewSat's US-based director, Chuck Ellison, who despite receiving $700,000 in consultancy fees on top of his director's pay in recent years, was not a participant in the May meeting. "I have never seen nor heard of more appalling corporate behaviour than at NewSat," Rudd concluded.

Rudd's report made its way to the EXIM Bank's headquarters in Washington, which instigated a forensic audit of NewSat. This audit, as revealed recently by Fairfax Media, caused EXIM Bank and NewSat's other lenders to write of their concern about "potential unlawful conduct". NewSat's lenders demanded Green and Ballintine be replaced. But by April this year, they were still there. On April 17, receivers were appointed to NewSat after its lenders refused to provide any more money.By then, Fleiter and Plympton were long gone. They and fellow independent director Mark Fishwick resigned at the end of June last year in apparent exasperation that this company that promised so much was self-destructing. But before he departed, Plympton warned his board colleagues: "I think second and third chances are running out. Full stop."