Transparency New Zealand

Much of New Zealand corruption is based on the lack of due diligence   and ignorance .  we are looking into the Auckland film studios at  the moment   and  give this as an  example.

Mayor Bob Harvey was  deputy chair of the  film commission  knew of the  govt grants  which were coming out  . He got council to invest some 7 million in   fruit packing sheds  . (Is film a core business of council? And why are they  into film  when they are looking at privatizing water? )

Consultants brought in to ” advise ” the council  set up a company. The council eventually became minority share holder in this company ( later called Auckland film studios ) .  the majority shareholder  was  Tony Tay trust Limited  which  later sold to a new company Tony Tay film  Limited  of  which Tony Tay  Trust Ltd was the majority shareholder and REHOBOTH ENTERTAINMENT (NZ) LIMITED was the minority shareholder  and  whose director, Kieran Fitzsimmons was the onsite manager of the complex and who is also general manager  of the Tony Tay Group.

The original  minute from council stated “That the Council agrees to sell all the land situated at 40 Henderson Valley Road, Henderson being all the land comprised in Certificates of Title 363/45, 360/233,261/10, 819/28, 820/275, 1128/265, 1126/181 and 126A/59 (North Auckland Registry), and being the land and buildings currently comprising the Henderson Valley Studios to the proposed joint-venture company (currently referred to as Studio Company) subject to a minimum of $6 million private cash equity being invested in the proposed joint-venture company and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise approval of these private investors.”

The two properties were transferred into the company (which was set up by the councils consultants who were acting in a less than transparent manner)   as   the councils  shareholding, the properties were grouped into  two titles.

We have not gone to the expense of  checking to see how the historic titles and   current titles   relate to each other or if  land was” Lost” in this transaction .  What is also strange is that on the land transfer  files  both the hickory  property   and the 40 Henderson valley road property  are shown as 40 Henderson valley road  but there is no rates valuation for this address.

With  the   merging of  councils the  public asset has been transferred to  Auckland city . The Auckland film   This coincides with the time that   Tony Tay film has been put into receivership by its shareholder  Rehoboth  claiming  that it is owed  1.4 mil .

While it is odd that a shareholder should lend money to  the company and then   place the  company into receivership to   get the loan back  , It is also odd  to look at the figures involved and  see  such massive discrepancies. This has to be questioned   when public money is at risk and the share holder and the   company are as intrinsically entwined as Mr Kieran Fitzsimmons is  with the Tony Tay group.

According to official council records ( page 95)  the council values the complex in its entirety at about 10.975 Million  and shows a   loss of several million over the past few years.

The rates valuation for the property is  still shown as  is  13 mil. And this is for only part of the property  other parts are shown  as  10-14 Hickory ave but  we have been  unable to find a rating for the larger part of the property being 40 Henderson valley road.

The Receivers First Report identify Tony Tay  film assets as being  in excess  of  10 million . The only investment this company has  is the   55.6% shareholding of the Auckland film studio which is now valued according to council as 10.975 Million  .

Somehow   my  computer has spat the dummy  trying to work out these sums  and   no rational person could possibly accept that     a 55.6% shareholding of an asset worth 10.975 Million   can equal  $10,140,300

The only conclusion we  can come to is that, while the public have suffered a loss  in their investment the majority shareholders are being creative in clawing back   as much as they can.

We doubt if council will do an in-depth investigation into this   as they are not big on due diligence.    After all they can just ask the multitude to dig a bit deeper in their pockets and extract a few more rates dollars   to cover the short fall.

We predict that  What  will happen is that more public money will be   poured into this  venture  we the rate payers will lose while    the private investors  who have been involved in the  day by day operation of the facility  look at maximising  profit and minimising  risk. And this wont be considered corrupt at all  basically because there is not a single person who suffers a loss ( we all do )   there is no complainant and no  one will be prepared to look at  the  more shady aspects of this receivership.

Further related blogs Baptist connection with movie industry

How to invest using public funds

Official Information act request Auckland film studios and the  reply in

how transparent is the super city ?

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