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SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Company Liquidations: Ex vineyard contractor owes $1m

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A former Blenheim vineyard contractor about to be deported by Immigration New Zealand owes almost $1 million in unpaid debts.

Companies Office documents show the two companies owned by Prubhjit Singh, 30, owed $989,175 to creditors, including ACC, IRD, and the New Zealand Transport Agency.

Liquidators said in a report published online last month that they could not estimate an end date for the liquidation as they were unable to resolve “outstanding matters”, including the location of company records, and difficulties in corresponding with the director, finding out about company assets and investigating the relationship between Singh’s two companies.

Singh was arrested by police at his home in Blenheim last Tuesday night and was to be deported, Immigration New Zealand has confirmed.

Police assisted Immigration New Zealand staff to arrest the 30-year-old male Indian vineyard worker, who has been in New Zealand unlawfully since his work visa expired on July 31, 2008.

Singh leaves behind a wife and two young sons, all of whom are New Zealand citizens.

He has been convicted in the Blenheim District Court of aiding six Indonesian ship jumpers to work illegally in New Zealand and Inland Revenue put two of his businesses into liquidation for unpaid taxes last year.

Singh Services Limited was put into liquidation on December 10. Christchurch-based chartered accountants Keiran Horne and Lynda Smart were appointed as liquidators.

According to the liquidators’ report, Inland Revenue, the petitioning creditor, wound up the company for falling behind on payments.

As at December 10, Singh Services Limited owed $989,175 to preferential, secured and unsecured creditors. Creditors include ACC, IRD, the New Zealand Transport Agency, Fruitfed Supplies, Hirequip and Tasman Crop Protection.

The liquidators said in the report that there were insufficient funds for unsecured creditors because Inland Revenue claims, hire purchase contracts and preferential and secured creditors, such as employee claims, up to $20,340 per employee, had to be paid first. There was also insufficient funds to pay for preferential and secured creditors.

Directors Prubhjit Singh and Mrinal Sardana had attributed their financial position to difficulties and delays in preparing company tax returns, resulting in unclaimed tax credits, which they said would have removed most of the debt.

Singh said the company had no assets as they were sold.

The liquidators have requested information on these sales, and if assets were identified they would be sold by the liquidators.

The liquidation is expected to be completed by June.

The second of Singh’s companies to be liquidated goes by the same name, Singh Services Limited, previously known as Vine to Wine Services Limited. It was placed into liquidation on August 20, last year.

The liquidators said because of the difficulties they had encountered, including liaising with Inland Revenue and investigating the company’s relationship with Singh’s most recently liquidated company, creditors had received no return.

They said it was also unlikely that unsecured creditors would receive a dividend.

The company received a GST refund of just $461 between August 2012 and February this year.

Source: Marlborough Express

Story by Sonja Beal. 18 March 2013

http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/8438508/Ex-vineyard-contractor-owes-1m

 

Why does liberal Iceland want to ban online pornography?

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The Economist Explains: Why does liberal Iceland want to ban online pornography?

ON THE face of it, Saudi Arabia and Iceland have little in common. In the World Economic Forum’s 2012 Global Gender Gap report, which compares progress towards sexual equality in 135 countries, Saudi Arabia ranked 131st while Iceland, a country with 322,000 citizens, topped the list. And yet Iceland’s proposal to outlaw online pornography places it in the company of Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed to drive, to travel without a man’s permission and have restricted rights to vote. Why does liberal Iceland want to ban online pornography?

Iceland’s proposed ban can be seen as a continuation of earlier legislation to regulate the sex industry. In 2009 it introduced fines and prison terms for those who patronise prostitutes (though not the prostitutes themselves, which the law treats as victims). In 2010 it outlawed strip clubs. And distributing and selling pornography in Iceland has actually been illegal since 1869.

The main reason behind the proposed ban seems paradoxical: it is a result of Iceland being a highly liberal place. The country is run by the world’s only openly lesbian prime minister, while 65% of Icelandic children are born outside marriage (more than any other country in the OECD)

For full story go to: 

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/04/economist-explains-why-iceland-ban-pornography?fb_ref=activity

Banning the sex industry

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21576366-iceland-determined-outlaw-worlds-oldest-business-can-it-succeed-naked-ambition

Naked ambition: Banning the sex industry [in Iceland]

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Banning the sex industry: Naked Ambition 

Iceland is determined to outlaw the world’s oldest business. Can it succeed?

April 20th 2013. The Economist Report. Reykjavik

ULTRA-LIBERAL Iceland wants to ban online pornography. It is just the latest step in its attempts to eliminate the sex industry entirely. In 2009 it introduced fines and jail terms for those who patronise prostitutes (whom it treats as victims). In 2010 it outlawed strip clubs. In February the government decided to take on the glut of smut online and floated the idea of banning violent or degrading pornography, which some Icelanders take to mean most of it. No country has yet wholly succeeded in controlling commercial sex, either through legalisation or criminalisation. But all over the world, particularly in rich democracies, policymakers are watching to see whether Iceland succeeds—and may follow in its footsteps if it does.

Full Report:

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21576366-iceland-determined-outlaw-worlds-oldest-business-can-it-succeed-naked-ambition

Cyber bullies could face jail under new Government plan

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Cyber bullies could be sent to jail for up to three years under new Government proposals aimed at protecting victims of online bullying.

“Tormenters are able to harass their targets 24 hours a day, seven days a week, wherever they go, and the trail of abuse lives on in cyberspace, following victims for years,” Justice Minister Judith Collins said.

The proposals include creating a new offence of incitement to commit suicide, even in situations when a person does not attempt to take their own life, punishable by up to three years imprisonment.

It would also be an offence to send messages and post material online that was grossly offensive, indecent, obscene, menacing or knowingly false, punishable by up to three months imprisonment or a $2000 fine.

An approved agency would be set up as the first port of call for complaints, while serious complaints could be taken to the district court, which would be able to issue sanctions including take-down orders.

“People needing help will get fast support including liaison with website hosts and ISPs to request take-down or moderation of clearly offensive posts,” Collins said.

“No one should ever be subject to this kind of cowardly attack – now with the right support and modern laws in place, victims will no longer have to suffer.”

Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker said the proposals reflected, almost entirely, recommendations made last year by the Law Commission.

“We think they are a really sensible set of proposals. What happened through the process is that both issues of cyber bullying and the need to protect freedom of speech and opinions on the internet were considered. So the final proposals are a balanced approach to combating cyber bullying, in our opinion.”

He cautioned that, while it was relatively easy to write legislation, it was difficult to make those laws practically enforceable on the internet. The new proposals sought to do that through a new agency and new powers.

The interesting part for Netsafe was the idea of an approved agency to try to coordinate complainants and those harassing them into a solution without having to go to court, Cocker said.

“There is a realistic likelihood of a positive outcome under that model.”

The proposals for new offences for which people could be sent to prison were aimed at addressing a gap in the law.

Technology was being used in ways that were offensive and harmful and law enforcement agencies did not have clarity about how to deal with such problems.

“There is a sector that works pretty hard to protect the internet against any sort of controls and … that sector will always be uneasy about new regulations, but I think the new regulations did take their concerns into consideration,” Cocker said.

“It’s important to recognise that these proposals aren’t about controlling the internet or filtering or putting mechanisms onto the internet. These proposals are focused on people causing the harm and people being harmed.”

Collins said under the proposals harassment, privacy and human rights laws would be amended to ensure the were up-to-date for digital communications.

Source: Cyber  bullies face jail under new Govt plan. Story by Michael Daly. 4 April 2013

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/8507497/Cyber-bullies-face-jail-under-new-Govt-plan

Fairfax NZ News

Appeal Court backs liquidators’ power to claw back payments made by an insolvent company

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The Court of Appeal has backed liquidators’ power to claw back payments made by an insolvent company up to two years before its collapse.

Three High Court decisions last year undid a commonly held belief about voidable transactions, where a liquidator can order a creditor to repay money received from a troubled firm.

The voidable transaction process is designed to prevent creditor queue jumping. A creditor can defend against a claim if it can prove it acted in good faith in accepting the payment, had no reason to suspect the business it was trading with was in trouble and gave value for the funds received.

The High Court ruled a creditor should not be disadvantaged just because it provided its services before being paid, as many suppliers did.

The High Court decisions meant voidable transactions would be virtually unenforceable and so appeals were lodged.

Source: Fairfax NZ

Maria Slade. Business Day 30 March 2013. www.stuff.co.nz

For further details see:

Interim Judgment of the Court of Appeal dated 27 March 2013.

Farrell and Rogan as Liquidators of Contact Engineering Ltd v. Fences & Kerbs Limited

CA 773/2012 [2013] NZCA 91

Given  by P. Randerson J.

Hearing date 7 February 2013

O’Regan, P. Randerson, and French JJ

http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/front-page/cases/farrell-and-rogan-as-liquidators-of-contact-engineering-limited-v-fences-kerbs-limited