SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Any banned company director convicted of a breach of his or her banning order receives AUTOMATIC ban applying from date of conviction

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Automatic prohibition on conviction

In addition to the power of prohibition by the Registrar or the FMA under section 385 [of the Companies Act 1993], a person is automatically prohibited from acting as a director or manager if they have been:

Convicted on indictment of any offence in connection with the promotion, formation or management of a company or

Convicted of:

An offence under sections 377 to 380 of the Companies Act 1993

An offence against section 58 of the Securities Act. or sections 51 or 61 of the Financial Markets Authority Act 2011.

Any crime involving dishonesty as defined by section 2(1) of the Crimes Act 1961 or

The subject of a pecuniary penalty under the Securities Act 1978.

https://www.business.govt.nz/companies/about-us/enforcement/director-prohibitions#automatic-prohibition

[Note: THIS “AUTOMATIC PROHIBITION” APPLIES IF A BANNED COMPANY DIRECTOR IS CONVICTED OF BREACHING A BANNING ORDER, AND IT IS IMPOSED OVER AND ABOVE ANY PRE-EXISTING BAN THAT HAD ITS OWN TERM (e.g. a four year ban). IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THE “AUTOMATIC PROHIBITION” CAN ONLY BE REMOVED BY A COURT ORDER DISCHARGING THE PROHIBITED PERSON FROM HIS OR HER STATE OF DISQUALIFICATION. NO BANNING ORDER IMPOSED BY THE REGISTRAR UNDER S. 385 (3) CAN EXCEED TEN YEARS]. [Read more…]

Censor Criticised Over Approach to Explicit Book

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Family First NZ has made an additional submission regarding the
re-classification of Into the River by Ted Dawe, and says that parents should
be concerned by the arguments being put forward by the Chief Censor to justify
making objectionable books with highly offensive language and explicit sexual
content freely available without any age restriction.

Copy of submission here https://www.familyfirst.org.nz/2015/09/supplementary-submission-to-the-board-of-review-into-the-river/

Family First call for investigation into censor’s decision over teen novel– Into the River

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A conservative lobby group is calling for the country’s book censor to be investigated for removing a teen novel’s R14 rating.

Family First [a registered charity] made the request in a submission arguing for a permanent age restriction on award-winning novel Into the River.

Director Bob McCoskrie said the deputy chief censor’s "highly politicised" decision to remove the book’s restriction in August was illegal.

"Parents and families need to have a level of trust and confidence in what the censorship board decides."

Into the River sparked a row over censorship as the Film and Literature Board of Review and Classification Office debate its classification.

Deputy chief censor Nic McCully removed the book’s R14 restriction in August, which the Review Board’s president then over-turned.

McCully has since left her role as deputy chief censor.

A Classification Office spokeswoman confirmed Jared Mullen replaced McCully as deputy chief censor in August.

She said the process to replace her started in 2014 and was not related to the classification of the book.

The office defended its legal processes in reviewing the book’s classification.

Full Story:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/72403409/family-first-call-for-investigation-into-censors-decision-over-teen-novel

Twice-Bankrupt David Ian Henderson guilty on tax charges

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Christchurch bankrupt Dave Henderson has been found guilty of seven tax charges involving about $163,000.

Henderson, 60, faced seven charges of aiding and abetting his company Dweller Ltd to apply tax deductions or deemed tax deductions for purposes other than payment to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

Henderson’s trial took nearly a year to conclude. It started last November and carried on into May, June, August and September.

The offences occurred in 2010. About $163,00 of tax was not paid.

Henderson was remanded on bail for sentencing on November 12. The offending carries a maximum penalty of five years’ jail and/or a $50,000 fine.

The convictions end another chapter in Henderson’s battles with Inland Revenue.

Henderson has previous convictions on tax charges and fought IRD over a $1m tax assessment in 1996. He eventually got the assessment overturned and was granted a refund of $65,000. A book (1999) and movie (2007) followed.

IRD put Henderson’s mothership company Property Ventures Ltd (PVL) into liquidation in 2010 and he was in the same year made bankrupt.

Christchurch District Court Judge Gary McAskill said on Thursday Henderson’s decision-making role was illustrated by emails he exchanged with staff members in 2010..

See full story:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/72386302/bankrupt-henderson-guilty-on-tax-charges

Into the River ban was in ‘public interest’, Dr Don Mathieson

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Complete freedom of expression is impossible in a society that also allows censorship, says the man who has singlehandedly shut down sales of teen novel Into the River.

Don Mathieson, president of the Film and Literature Board of Review, said an interim restriction order – which makes it a crime to supply, display or distribute the award-winning book – was “in the public interest”.

“I’m just applying an act of Parliament … It’s impossible to have complete 100% freedom of expression and any form of censorship of written materials and that’s the tension we all have to live with and if anybody hasn’t got the brains to see that, then, I’m sorry . . . ”

Mathieson, speaking publicly for the first time since he issued his restriction order, said he had read Into the River“sufficiently recently to have a detailed knowledge of it”.

“I can’t comment on the merits of the book. It may have considerable merit and the board will decide whether it has or not. But the question is not how good of a bit of literature it is, but how does the act apply to it?”

His ruling remains in place until the next full meeting of the Review Board, scheduled for October 2. [Read more…]