In the ongoing saga of Allan Hubbard and his crumbling business empire there were further revelations yesterday when the second report from statutory managers Grant Thornton came out.
It appears that Mr Hubbard has been running his Hubbard Management Funds (HMF) business, Aorangi Securities and a number of other investment vehicles in a slack, fraudulent and underhanded manner. In those respects it makes him as bad as your Hotchins, Watsons, Bryers and their filthy thieving ilk.
On first look though, what appears different is that Hubbard looks to have been motivated by the "Robin Hood" factor. That is, he was using other peoples money to lend to those who "needed" it.
All very altruistic sounding at first glance but bound to end in tears when incoming funds and assets didn't match outgoings.
There have been claims made in the second report that Aorangi Securities has been borrowing money on call while lending the proceeds to second rate and overvalued farming assets, the bulk of which are connected to the Hubbards - nothing altruistic going on there.
Aorangi made interest free loans to a charitable trust that the Hubbards have a financial investment in and that trust was being charged 10% interest on those loans - very dodgy.
Investment values overstated by 25% in the Hubbard Management Funds business with $13 million of assets allocated to investors in the fund that apparently don't exist - looking very bad here.
An overstatement of cash at hand at HMF of more than $5.5 million.
Inter-party lending that advantages Mr Hubbard and his financial interests over his investors is a good indication that he was covering his own ass in the event of a meltdown.
Mr Hubbard's businesses all suffered from a lack of full detailed documentation.
It is clear now while Mr Hubbard did not set out to deliberately fleece investors as other finance company heads have over the last 3 years, Mr Hubbard is no saint.
I have until now largely reserved my judgement on Hubbard and his predicament but if you read the report you can come only to the conclusion that Hubbard has been a naughty boy and supporters need to take a good hard look at themselves if they wish to continue to back Mr Hubbard in the face of the reality of his offenses thus far revealed.
Yep, it isn't right that the other thieves out there have largely been untouched by authorities but the object of our interest here is Allan Hubbard and we now should wait for the additional detail that will come out from the Serious Fraud Office and the Statutory managers of Hubbard's business and personal financial dealings.
Related Share Investor Reading
Download Grant Thornton Report 1
Download Grant Thornton Report 2
Allan Hubbard: Full TV3 Interview - July 16 2010
Thornton Report: Allan Hubbard's Aorangi Securities
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Allied Farmers: What's it Worth?
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