Details from a meeting between members of a Trio Capital (Trio) investor group and high profile members of Australia’s political and regulatory bodies may provide a new arsenal for self-managed superannuation (SMSF) investors’ fight for regime change and compensation.
InvestorDaily understands that last week’s discussions between the representatives of Victims of Financial Fraud (VOFF), the Minister of Financial Services Bill Shorten, ASIC chair Greg Medcraft and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) member Ross Jones may have unearthed previously unreleased details as to the circumstance of the fund manager’s collapse.
VOFF chair David Bridge would not be comment on speculation such details exist when InvestorDaily called him on Friday.
Instead, Bridge said the 5 June meeting in Sydney was a positive step for the group, with Shorten providing the VOFF investors with “a fair hearing”.
“It’s far to say we did have a fair hearing. The meeting went longer than planned. the Minster did adjust his schedule to accommodate this,” Bridge said.
Asked whether the meeting gave VOFF confidence its three strategic measures would be met, Bridge said Shorten made no promises.
“We believe that there is no commitment that any form of compensation will be made at this point,” Bridge said.
“However based on the information we presented [on Thursday 5 July] and getting a firsthand perspective, we believe the Minster is more informed about our view point [and] about the relevance of Section 23 of the SIS (Superannuaiton Industry Supervision) Act.”
It is VOFF’s belief that the events of Trio and its subsequent collapse mean that it is no longer permissible for Australia’s regulatory system to “stand behind” Section 23 of the Act.
“It is too simplistic to use Section 23 of the SIS Act to indicate that SMSF investors are not covered by the compensation scheme,” he said.
“Our view is that there is an organised criminal gang who have infiltrated our system and hoodwinked everyone.
“If the regulators can say ‘it wasn’t us’ then all three need to act as a seamless network to protect our investments.”
Bridge said VOFF provided Shorten and other attendees at the meeting with a letter and 20 pages of investor questions in regard to the recent Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services’ report into the collapse of Trio.
“The basis of VOFF’s positions and the intentions is to indicate that we believe there is a substantial number of questions that have not been asked or answered,” Bridge said.
“APRA and ASIC may not have liked what we would say. at the conclusion [of the meeting] we issued a letter to the Minister, APRA, ASIC, and ATO (the Australian Taxation Office).”
Since forming roughly six months ago, VOFF has sought action on three key areas: full compensation without discussion for all investors in all trio products, substantial changes to the regulatory oversight to Australians financial system, and for all criminals involved in Trio be brought to justice.
Trio collapsed in late 2009, resulting in the loss of more than $100 million in investor funds.
VOFF will be releasing the full minutes of the meeting in the coming weeks, it said.
