SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Hamish McIntosh – Ross Asset Management investor – ordered to repay $454K

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Hamish McIntosh: Is a Wellington lawyer who was an investor in one of New Zealand’s biggest Ponzi schemes . who has been ordered to pay back the fictitious profits he withdrew.

McIntosh, who lost his appeal for name suppression was an investor in Ross Asset Management (RAM) and was being pursued for hundreds of thousands of dollars in a “clawback” claim by liquidators.

McIntosh withdrew $954,000 from RAM’s Ponzi-style scheme before it collapsed.

In March the court heard the investor borrowed $500,000 from Westpac to invest with RAM in April 2007 and was paid out $954,000 in November 2011.

In a judgment issued on Tuesday Justice Alan MacKenzie ordered McIntosh to pay to the liquidators $454,047.62. However, he did not have to pay the liquidator his $500,000 investment.

Liquidator John Fisk said he believed the judge had made a fair and balanced assessment . [Read more…]

Jailed financial adviser stole $1m from elderly clients

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She was their trusted friend, their financial adviser, and for more than six years, Linnet Lewis used that very trust and friendship to steal just over $1 million from elderly clients.

Lewis, 55, was convicted on Friday at the Rotorua High Court to five years and five months imprisonment after pleading guilty to 16 charges of theft by a person in a special relationship.

Over a period of six-and-a-half years Lewis used her position as a trusted financial adviser to steal from her clients, some them in their 90s.

Prosecuting for the Serious Fraud Office, which led the investigation, Fletcher Pilditch said sums ranging from $15,000 to $250,000 were stolen from individual clients for Lewis’ own personal use and that the loss of trust had been devastating.

“It’s not just the money for the victims,” he said.

“They are people who believed in a handshake and believed in trust. That vulnerability was exploited by the offender.”

Go to full story:

Story by Benn Bathgate: Published 19 June 2015

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/69536687/jailed-financial-adviser-stole-1m-from-elderly-clients

Compliance with Companies Act 1993: Filing Annual Returns on time

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Directors of all New Zealand registered companies must file an annual return with the Companies Office each year as required by the Companies Act 1993 [see S. 214] – it is an offence not to comply with this [see S. 374(2)]

If an annual return is not filed by the due date, the company risks being removed from the register as the Registrar may be satisfied that the company has ceased to carry on business.

Exception

A company is not required to file an annual return in the calendar year of its incorporation.  For example, if a company is incorporated in 2010, its first annual return will be due in 2011.

Annual return reminder system  [From the Companies Office website]

First reminder

We will send you a reminder via email on the 1st working day of the month that the annual return is due.  You should make sure that the email address we have recorded for your address for communication is kept up to date.

For example, if your annual return is due to be filed during the month of August, we will send your first reminder on 1 August (or the next working day if the 1st is not a working day).

Second reminder

We are also introducing an extra reminder for clients.  If you have not already filed your annual return by the 3rd week of the filing month, we will send you an extra reminder.

Final reminder

If you don’t file your annual return during the filing month, we will send you a third and final reminder.  We will send that final reminder approximately one week after the return was due.

References:

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0105/latest/DLM321131.html

http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/learn-about/annual-returns/when-to-file

http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/learn-about/annual-returns/annual-return-reminders

Example | If your annual return is due to be filed in May 2015, you will receive the following reminders:

  • First reminder– sent on 1 May 2015 (or the next working day if the 1st is not a working day).
  • Second reminder– sent in the third week of May if the annual return has not been filed.
  • Final reminder– sent approximately one week after the annual return is deemed overdue. You will still able to file your annual return, even if it is overdue – but you should do this as quickly as possible to avoid steps being taken to remove the company from the register.

Court ruling on claw-backs by liquidators welcomed

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‘Common sense’ decision may prevent liquidators from re-claiming payments.

A Supreme Court ruling that clears up a contentious area of insolvency law could put a hand brake on liquidators trying to claw back funds from creditors paid out before a company collapses.

One liquidator who was not involved in the case, Damien Grant, said yesterday’s decision meant there would be less distributions from liquidations in the future.

A lawyer who was on the losing side of the litigation, Kevin Bond, said directors of insolvent companies may now be encouraged to make preferential payments to creditors who have leverage over them.

On the other hand, representatives of the construction industry hailed the Supreme Court’s judgment as a “victory for common sense” that would come as a relief to “thousands of businesses”.

The unanimous decision from Justices Sian Elias, John McGrath, William Young, Susan Glazebrook and Terence Arnold concerned voidable transactions, where liquidators claw back money from individuals or companies who were paid up to two years prior to their appointment.

It follows a Court of Appeal decision from 2013 that caused many people concern, particularly in the construction industry.

That ruling, according to those in the sector, meant that unless a contractor or subcontractor was paid upfront for work done for a company later found to be insolvent, the funds could be recovered by a liquidator. [Read more…]

Real estate agent Chris Gollins found guilty of disgraceful conduct

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WELLINGTON commercial real estate agent Chris Gollins has been found guilty of disgraceful conduct for backdating an agency agreement for a land sale.

The Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal  upheld the charge following a complaint from Colliers International, whom Gollins worked for at the time the deal was done.

Gollins, had done a lot of work for the Foodstuffs, and acted as agent for the sale of land for a proposed new supermarket in Whitby, near Wellington.

He had a verbal agreement with Foodstuffs property managers Wayne O’Styke and Mark Lash in 2010 under which he was to be paid 2.5 per cent commission.

The land deal was signed in September 2010 conditional on the supermarket development gaining resource consent.

Two years later when the consent was granted O’Styke’s replacement, Martin Price, questioned Gollins’s draft invoice for $114,000 in commission.

Concerned that he was not going to be paid, Gollins prepared an agency agreement, confirming the 2.5 per cent fee and backdated it to 2010.

The agreement was signed by O’Styke who was aghast that Gollins was not going to be paid.

Gollins later sought support from Colliers management.

But after admitting he backdated the agency agreement, the company took disciplinary action,  dismissed him and referred the matter to the Real Estate Agents Authority.

The tribunal said Gollins tried to deceive Price or Foodstuffs to obtain his commission.

Attempting to pass off  an agreement signed two years after the event would be considered by members of the public and agents of good standing as disgraceful conduct

The tribunal also found him guilty of unsatisfactory conduct, [Read more…]