Fairfax Media have amended their on-line story on the liquidator appointed by the IRD and the twice bankrupt property developer David Ian Henderson and given appropriate prominence to the correction. The false headline "Liquidator fined for ' buffoon' comment" [emphasis added] has now been amended to "Liquidator to pay for 'buffoon' comment [Emphasis added]. Fairfax now affirms that The Disciplinary Tribunal of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA) did NOT impose a fine on liquidator Robert Bruce Walker after ruling that he had breached professional standards (recognised by the NZICA Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) to have been at the lower end of 'offending'). Walker strongly denied the charges before the Tribunal, via his lawyer, and was required in its ruling, as Fairfax now helpfully point out - to pay "costs", and this is NOT a "fine".
It is gratifying to see that some parts of the community have a sense of decency, evidenced by Fairfax Media making the online change (update) to the story promptly, correcting the error - which if had not done, could have opened it up to potential defamation. It is a shame that this prompt and principled response is not always the case among other institutions, and persons responsible for online stories. Among the latter, ethical qualities and standards are often sadly, even shockingly lacking.
Certain so-called "administrators" and "owners" of scurrilous websites who maliciously propagate defamatory falsehoods, knowingly, need to 'lift their game', to put it mildly, and recognise that once a falsehood has been formally notified to them, its defamatory nature identified by a complainant, and a formal request made for its removal, it must be removed. If it is not, this opens thoseresponsible for the website to potential defamation proceedings from the complainant. Courting defamation proceedings by, for example, accusing a person on-line of being a serial tax evader, and/or of parading fake degrees on a CV etc., and/or holding directorships of fictional companies or organisations etc, without providing any evidence; is the mark of a true coward, and a moral bankrupt.
Liquidators often face a b#gger of a job when they have to issue reports detailing to creditors the (often strenuous) efforts they have had to undertake in order to locate, secure or seize by lawful means, assets and/or the files and documents from directors of liquidated companies, in order to determine whether or not they have committed any offences against the Companies Act 1993 and/or other related legislation. Once their liquidation reports are released they do not have the privilege, as do online news editors, of being able to make changes to their reports!
In the case of serial litigant and twice-bankrupted property developer, Dave Henderson, he chose to bring his "grievances" againsttwo liquidator reports issued by Robert Bruce Walker to the NZICA, almost two years AFTER they had been published and their contents had already been the subject of a number of High Court cases related to enforcement issues. In the latter Walker succeeded as liquidator, in getting orders issued by the Court to obtain company records from Dave Henderson, which Henderson was seeking to withhold from him. Henderson brought his complaint to the NZICA via his business associate Ian Bruce Hyndman whopresented himself as the so-called aggrieved party.
One report dealt with a conversation Walker had with a licensed private investigation Wayne Idour, apparently employed by Henderson/Hyndman to 'dig for dirt' on him. The alleged un-professional language Walker was accused of using in that phone conversation, almost three years prior last week's the Disciplinary Tribunal hearing, was a conversation (May 2011) in which neither Hyndman nor Henderson were participants, and it involved a description in colourful words (such as "little b#gger") of Henderson and his character, not Hyndman.
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