Attorney general David Parker , deep in finance corruption yet again , but its okay , we know its fine for the left
Parker an investor with FMO
Last week Fund Managers Otago (FMO) became the first company to be removed from its position overseeing three group investment funds and replaced by the Financial Markets Authority, which appointed KPMG to take over and wind up the funds.
Mr Parker, a former Dunedin lawyer and co-founder of the Community Law Centre, has held a small shareholding (5.47%) of Fund Managers Holdings Ltd, which owns a two-thirds stake in Fund Managers Otago, for more than two decades.
A spokesman for the minister said Mr Parker also had "less than $5000" invested in two of the funds that were being managed by Fund Managers Otago.
"He is not involved with FMO and has taken no action in relation to the issues facing FMO," the spokesman said.
None of the directors of FMO have spoken about the situation.
FMO chairman John Gallaher, an executive director at Forsyth Barr, said he was not able to comment and Webb Farry Lawyers partner David Ehlers, another of the directors, said the same.
Auckland accountant and director Kevin Whitley, who joined the board in 2019 and is a major shareholder of Fund Managers Holdings, did not respond to messages, but told the National Business Review the company’s board was "gobsmacked".
The other director, Peter Hutchison, did not respond to requests for comment.
He stood down from another role as a director at Fund Managers Central, in the North Island, last week, NBR reported.
“In light of what has happened”, Mr Hutchison had agreed to stand down, Fund Managers Central chairman Peter Ellis said.
FMO’s former chairman and current shareholder, Dunedin developer and businessman John Farry, said he was surprised and disappointed the company was removed from its portfolios.
He said he had not been directly involved with FMO in the last three years.
"It was totally unexpected. It was a great shock to me as it was to other shareholders."
He said he was hopeful the situation would be resolved "satisfactorily".
Former Dunedin mayor Peter Chin also had a small shareholding in FMO, but said when contacted he had no role with the company.
The Otago Daily Times understands problems with the funds began around the time of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008.
Since then "every effort has been made to recover the very best that could be recovered for the investors," a source said.
"It’s been a long, hard road and intense effort was made and continues to be made, until this has happened, to obtain the very best result for investors."
The source understood the NZMIT No2 fund, most recently put into a wind-up process, to be in "perfect condition".
Meanwhile, more investors expect to lose tens of thousands of dollars out of investments with FMO.
Oamaru man Trevor Wilson said his late father invested $90,000 into the NZ Mortgage Income Trust (NZMIT), but after he died in late 2012 they struggled to get some of it back while that fund was being wound up.
"We’re pretty bitter about it," he said.
"... we were paid out ... about $28,000 at one stage and then it’s been dribs and drabs, up until four or five years ago. There’s been nothing [since then]."
Mr Wilson said he was with his father the day he signed up to the group investment fund.
"He was promised ... it was going to be one of the safest places to put his money.
"He would be so bitter. He was a World War 2 veteran, very passionate about his country ... and the welfare of his family."
A Temuka man who was the trustee of his late mother’s family trust that had invested $50,000 with FMO said they got less than half of that money back.
"Our experience of [FMO] has not been pleasant, and we are hoping that the change of management will bring the sorry saga to a conclusion."
In 2013, when the man’s mother died, they tried to get the money out of the fund and were told they could no longer do so because the wind-up had begun.
"That was really, really gut-wrenching."
He said his late mother would be "gobsmacked and mortified" if she was still alive and knew her children had received so little from the original investment.
The man said he expects to get about $10,000 more in total back from the investment as it is wound up.
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