Share Investor: Allan Hubbard Saga

Showing posts with label Allan Hubbard Saga. Show all posts

Monday, September 5, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: Time for supporters to let go

Time heals most wounds but if one doesn't let go of what has done the wounding then bitterness, sadness, irrationality and hate will be the order of the day. The biggest impact is on the individual who holds on not on the object of scorn.

In relation to the death of failed financier Allan Hubbard, supporters must now face the reality that his death means the end of the road for a raft of fraud charges brought against him by the Serious Fraud Office and must take that as the most positive conclusion that they could have wished for given the seriousness of the charges brought against him.

Continuing to fight on to "clear his good name" is a non starter. It will cost the litigants emotionally as well as financially to an impossible positive resolution for them given the gravity and sheer weight of the evidence stacked up against Mr Hubbard and of course the fact that he is no longer with us to defend the charges.

There have already been attacks from the more irrational of the Hubbard supporters, like self-appointed spokesman Paul Carruthers, with threats of feeble class action lawsuits against Simon Power and John Key but what does that really achieve?

What it does do is devalue Mr Hubbard's legacy even further than he has himself through the failure of his business empire and being a man of a deeply religious nature he would want those that say they back him to just let it go and get on with their lives.

I am with Fran O'Sullivan, lets release Mrs Hubbard's personal finances from statutory management so she can live life and have enough money for her man's funeral. John Key has already indicated that this will happen so supporters should be thankful for that.

Time to move on.

Allan Hubbard Saga

Full SFO Statement on SCF Fraud Investigation

Hubbard Letter to Simon Power

c Share Investor 2011

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: Does death mean the End?

It is very sad to hear the news that beleaguered businessman Allan Hubbard died on Friday in a serious car crash.

While readers know I am no fan of his it is always sad to see someone leave like this.

His reputation will be forever tarnished in the eyes of the public in general and those that lost money at his hands and we will be forever speculating as to the guilt, innocence or otherwise of an individual whose business empire collapsed under the haze of serious fraud charges, forgery, manipulation of accounts, fake investments and a record of inter-company lending that managed to hide the cracks in the veneer for a number of years.

Mr Hubbard was due in court next month to face charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office following a lengthy investigation into his failed finance company, South Canterbury Finance and the question remains as to whether charges can still proceed without Hubbard sitting in a courtroom.

The Serious Fraud Office now need to make a decision whether to proceed - if they can with any practicality - with the 50 charges against him so his supporters can get a decision either way as to Hubbard's culpability or otherwise and the question over his guilt will not linger forever and a day and he is eulogised as saint of sinner in lieu of his day in court.

There seems to be some conjecture over whether an estate can be charged in absense of the defendant but ultimately it will be up to the law, courts and Serious Fraud Office as to what happens next. In the balance of probability it looks like the case will be dropped.

Of course if charges cannot be proceeded with Allan Hubbard -or in this case, his legacy - will be legally off the hook because the SFO would not have a chance to prove his guilt in a court of law. Therefore he will remain forever "innocent".

However, the doubt will still remain.

*My best wishes go to Jean Hubbard & Allan Hubbard's family & his supporters.

Allan Hubbard Saga

Full SFO Statement on SCF Fraud Investigation

Hubbard Letter to Simon Power

Monday, June 27, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: The Prosecution

We have looked at a probable defence for alleged fraudster Allan Hubbard so now we must look at the case for the prosecution; what the details surrounding the case are and what he could be convicted of if found guilty.

In the Sixth Grant Thornton Report (A 7th is due at the end of June) it outlines the detail of the SFO case thus far and is a good starting point for prosecution purposes:

On Aorangi Securities Ltd: “The amount due to investors is $96 million. The preliminary estimate of the realisable value of the portfolio is in the range of approximately $87 million to $97 million.

Based on these estimates, investors could suffer a loss and Mr Hubbard would receive no money from Aorangi. No interest would be paid with realisations at this level.”

On Hubbard Management Funds: “The report states that some shares recorded as belonging to HMF are subject to possible claims from others. They say shares have been pledged as security to financiers for borrowings made by Mr Hubbard or parties related to him.

As previously stated, statutory managers’ reconciliation as at 31 March 2010 indicates that there were insufficient assets to provide investors the investments noted on their statements. There were also investments that were not allocated to investors and some valuations that, in the statutory managers’ opinion, were incorrect.

Once all adjustments and corrections were processed, the shortfall of assets compared with the investor statements is estimated at about $31 million.” Sixth Grant Thornton Report

So here we have a "shortfall" of $31 million for HMF and a reasonable chance of recovery with Aorangi. In relation to the facts as stated above we now come to how and why some of the above occurred.

Under the Crimes Act 1961 Mr Hubbard has been charged with more than 50 counts of fraud and the SFO have outlined why they are charging and what for:

"Crimes Act 1961

Section 220 - Theft by person in special relationship

(1) This section applies to any person who has received or is in possession of, or has control over, any property on terms or in circumstances that the person knows require the person—
(a) to account to any other person for the property, or for any proceeds arising from the property; or

(b) to deal with the property, or any proceeds arising from the property, in accordance with the requirements of any other person.

(2) Every one to whom subsection (1) applies commits theft who intentionally fails to account to the other person as so required or intentionally deals with the property, or any proceeds of the property, otherwise than in accordance with those requirements.

(3) This section applies whether or not the person was required to deliver over the identical property received or in the person's possession or control.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1), it is a question of law whether the circumstances required any person to account or to act in accordance with any requirements.

Section 242 - False statement by promoter, etc

(1) Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years who, in respect of any body, whether incorporated or unincorporated and whether formed or intended to be formed, makes or concurs in making or publishes any false statement, whether in any prospectus, account, or otherwise, with intent—

(a) to induce any person, whether ascertained or not, to subscribe to any security within the meaning of the Securities Act 1978 ; or

(b) to deceive or cause loss to any person, whether ascertained or not; or

(c) to induce any person, whether ascertained or not, to entrust or advance any property to any other person.

(2) In this section, false statement means any statement in respect of which the person making or publishing the statement—

(a) knows the statement is false in a material particular; or

(b) is reckless as to the whether the statement is false in a material particular.

Section 260 – False accounting

Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years who, with intent to obtain by deception any property, privilege, service, pecuniary advantage, benefit, or valuable consideration, or to deceive or cause loss to any other person,—
(a) makes or causes to be made, or concurs in the making of, any false entry in any book or account or other document required or used for accounting purposes; or
(b) omits or causes to be omitted, or concurs in the omission of, any material particular from any such book or account or other document; or
(c) makes any transfer of any interest in a stock, debenture, or debt in the name of any person other than the owner of that interest". Crimes Act 1961

So Mr Hubbard has been charged with false accounting, false statements and Theft by a person in a special relationship. These relate to instances of forged signatures, failure to do adequate paperwork, omissions in paperwork, failure to disclose business relationships in relation to insider lending, failure to provide adequate information on which investors can make clear decisions on investing with Hubbard etc.

The evidence for prosecution is very clear, it just has to be proven in court, if it gets that far.

I am picking the SFO will pursue the false accounting, false statements made as a promoter and the theft charges as they appear to be the most serious charges laid.

These are very serious charges and any one count alone if found guilty would be enough for a suitably serious sentence.

Allan Hubbard Saga

Full SFO Statement on SCF Fraud Investigation

Hubbard Letter to Simon Power

Friday, June 24, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: When Monkeys Attack! (UPDATE)

Sept 6 Update - Allan Hubbard Saga: Time for supporters to let go

In a farcical "report" - it is actually a cut & paste from selective media reporting with editorial comments from the author and it rambles on for 14 mind numbing pages - commissioned by the Stand By Hubbard Team and released yesterday, the author one Kerry Grass, uses innuendo, falsehoods, conspiracy theories and bald faced lies to back disgraced alleged fraudster Allan Hubbard and his position as head of several collapsed financial enterprises.

As I said, it rambles on like a ill conceived sentence looking for a full stop and since it does we will focus on just one of the bald faced lies that it contains and we have looked at before.

Supporters of Hubbard have long been pushing the untruth that Simon Botherway was involved in a conflict of interest regarding the winding up up his brothers interests in several bars and that South Canterbury Finance made the crucial first move to put his brother into receivership:

"An early demonstration that conflicts were not managed is now well known as the “Simon Botherway conflict”. Three days following the announcement of the statutory management and Serious Fraud Office investigation, media reported that Simon Botherway’s brother had his business placed into receivership by South Canterbury Finance. As a consequence of the receivership action the brother was adjudicated bankrupt on 14 June 2010.

Simon Botherway’s role as a member of the Commission was pivotal in the recommendation to place Allan Hubbard into statutory management and under investigation for fraud. Simon Botherway was also the Chairman of NZ’s newly established Financial Markets Authority. He was therefore one of the most senior members of the Commission.

During 2009 South Canterbury Finance took receivership action against the brother of Simon Botherway. The receivership was valued at approximately $6.6m. On 14 June 2010 the brother was placed into bankruptcy (www.insolvency.govt.nz). On 20 June 2010, 6 days after his brother’s bankruptcy order, Simon Botherway recommended Allan Hubbard be placed in statutory management and be referred to the Serious Fraud Office for investigation. Given SCF’s receivership action against his brother and the consequential bankruptcy of the brother, Botherway should not have had any role to play relating to any regulatory action against Allan Hubbard. Botherway’s conflict is clear and there can be no denial that it was real". June 23, 2011 Hubbard Supporters Report

Some of the above is factual, the following points are crucial to the above and they are the facts around what actually happened in relation to Botherway's brother but missing from the supporters report.

* South Canterbury Finance did not put Mr Botherway's brother into receivership as is widely accepted in the majority of media reports and the media is apparently the source of the June 23 2011 report.

* NZB (NZ Breweries) appointed a receiver on Friday 26th of June 2009. Their receivers sent a fax to SCF about 11am that morning giving them until 2pm to respond, SCF had no option but to appoint their own receivers to Merivale Ale House (Auckland Bars).

* A week later PWC advised SCF to place the South Island bars in receivership so they could control all the businesses.

Read the publicly available Receivers Report

* The investigation was led by the Companies Office and to the knowledge of my source* there were no Sec Com staff involved in it, and there were no Members of the Commission involved.

* Botherway didn't author any report on Aorangi or any of the other parties recommended for Statutory Management as widely reported and pushed by Hubbard supporters.

Clearly, if Botherway had a beef with anyone it would NZ Breweries and not SCF but of course that wouldn't nail the poison pen point home.

It just goes to show one should make sure one checks ones facts before laying ones hairy paws on ones computer keys.

Just an update with wee comment by Fran O'Sullivan on my Facebook Page on this "Report."

Fran O'Sullivan
They should fact check first.

11 minutes ago · · ·

* Wishes to remain anonymous.

Allan Hubbard Saga

Full SFO Statement on SCF Fraud Investigation

Hubbard Letter to Simon Power

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: Victims Share Stories

I was motivated to write this post because of an email that touched me the other day about a victim of alleged fraudster Allan Hubbard who has lost a considerable amount of money. They are elderly, around Mr & Mrs Hubbards age, and have lost a considerable amount of their life savings. Their lives have been irrevocably changed, they are frightened for their future and are in deep despair over what Mr Hubbard's actions have done to them.

They trusted this man and have been robbed of what is left of their future.

This is not the only contact that I have had with victims of Mr Hubbard and his various financial collapses over the last year that I have been writing about this subject. There have been countless cases brought to my attention and it is about time we heard from some of them.

There has been far too much written about Mr Hubbard and his "plight" so it is about time we even the score on that count.

With that in mind I would like investors that have been burnt by any aspect of Mr Hubbard's collapsed business empire to contact me and we can tell your story here for others to read.

Contact me at shareinvestornz@gmail.com or leave a post with your story below this column.

Allan Hubbard Saga

Full SFO Statement on SCF Fraud Investigation

Hubbard Letter to Simon Power

Share Investor

Monday, September 5, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: Time for supporters to let go

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: Does death mean the End?

Monday, June 27, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: The Prosecution

Friday, June 24, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: When Monkeys Attack! (UPDATE)

Fran O'Sullivan
They should fact check first.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: Victims Share Stories

Total Pageviews

Translate

Search Share Investor

Share Investor Blog Archive

Share Investor

Share Investor Portfolio Individual Shareholder Websites

Market/Financial News

Stockmarket/Business Blogs/Share Forums

My Favourite Reading

Share Investor

Monday, September 5, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: Time for supporters to let go

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: Does death mean the End?

Monday, June 27, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: The Prosecution

Friday, June 24, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: When Monkeys Attack! (UPDATE)

Fran O'Sullivan They should fact check first.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Allan Hubbard Saga: Victims Share Stories

Total Pageviews

Translate

Search Share Investor

Share Investor Blog Archive

Share Investor

Share Investor Portfolio Individual Shareholder Websites

Market/Financial News

Stockmarket/Business Blogs/Share Forums

My Favourite Reading

Fran O'Sullivan
They should fact check first.