WHITEHAVEN Coal has confirmed it carried out inspections on all work completed on its Maules Creek project by a con artist who for decades successfully passed himself off as a qualified engineer.
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Gerald Shirtcliff, of Brisbane, was employed by engineering firm Sedgman Limited to work on Whitehaven Coal’s $18.5 million coal-handling preparation plant as part of its $767 million open-cut mine.
However, subsequently it emerged that Shirtcliff, who worked under the name William Fisher, had been using an engineering degree from an English university he had stolen from a colleague in the late 1960s.
Shirtcliff, 66, recently pleaded guilty in court to 146 charges, including conducting professional engineering services while not an engineer and making false and misleading statements, and was fined $500,000.
Magistrate Paul Kluck said: “Any deficiency in the engineering calculations ... could have very serious consequences in terms of injury to persons, damage to property and ... failure of the projects concerned.”
Shirtcliff worked as a contractor for Sedgman Limited and WorleyParsons on mines, including at Maules Creek and Boggabri.
A Whitehaven spokesman said this week: “All work performed on the Maules Creek project will be to the appropriate standards.”
