GTG scratches heads, fleas

The chair of the board of Genetic Technologies (ASX: GTG), Henry Bosch, says he has no idea why majority shareholder and former CEO, Dr Mervyn Jacobson, is calling for the board’s removal.

In a statement to the stock exchange yesterday lifting the company’s trading halt, Bosch said Jacobson had provided no explanation as to why he was seeking to have five members of the board, including new CEO Michael Ohanessian, removed.

Bosch said the removal of the CEO would not be in the best interests of shareholders. The four independent directors - himself, former federal treasurer John Dawkins, deputy chancellor of Monash University Dr Leanne Rowe and audit committee member David Carruthers - would be unable to carry out their duties properly if the shareholders impugned the board’s judgment by trying to override it, he said.

Jacobson consented to Ohanessian’s appointment, as part of a unanimous decision, only last year. Jacobson has not called for the other independent director, Fred Bart, to be sacked.

The company is ploughing ahead nonetheless, launching a DNA-based dog breed identification test at the Royal Melbourne Show.

The test is used to determine the makeup of mixed-breed dogs through breed-specific genetic signatures.

Potential uses for the test include identifying a dog's probable behaviour patterns based on the characteristics of their genetic make-ups, or screening for health complications.