Transparency New Zealand

I am extremely concerned with   the  standards  that the  Charities commission adopts when it comes to  trusts, it appears that the notion that all you need is a trust deed is  correct.   even to the extent that you  can lose your deed or claim to have lost your deed and make up a different deed years later and back date it.  this to me creates a legal fiction     where are the standards. ?  When you park for  5 minutes in excess of your  time these standards are very real  but for charities   near enough is apparently good enough.

The  following is  my latest OIA to the charities commission with regards to the  fictional trust which operated in Waitakere city  using  rate payers money.

I have in the past made a number of complaints with regards to  the Animal welfare institute of New Zealand.

 The charity commission somehow condones what this   charity  gets up to  base on  documents which are years old   and without considering the facts.

 I am  therefore  making this an official information act request to seek the information on which the charities commission relies upon to    give credibility to the actions of this  charity   I will   give  you the evidence then I will ask  for the information  throughout  the  document.

 Please note that this document  has hyperlinks which open the evidence on which I rely .

 I will also be posting this on Transparency .net .nz for transparency purposes.

 The Animal welfare Institute charity   trust deed  1.3.2000   .  Allegedly revoked by  trust deed  5/12/2006became  a charity in 2007  and has used its charitable funds to  pay for litigation  which  this trust was not part of.

 Reliance of the existence of the charity CC11235   has been on the foundation document of the animal welfare Institute Of New Zealand   trust which was allegedly revoked by a trust deed  5/12/2006

 Documents sent to the law society by Neil Wells on 25/5/2011  are the governance documents which he calls the “  the relevant supporting documents”  being

1. 1. 1. minutes  10/5/2006

1. 1. 1. Resignation of Giltrap

1. 1. 1. Resignation of Grove

1. 1. 1. Email to  Wyn Hoadley

1. 1. 1. 13 July 2006 telephone meeting  

1. 1.  Minutes 14/8/2006

An  audit report received by me early September 2011 dated 20/7/2009 did much to unravel the truth behind AWINZ   due to the information it contained..

 This audit report had been made in the course of an official government enquiry  into  the activities of this  alleged trust

1.       The audit report under point 4.1.2   states:

“We found that despite being set up in 2000, AWINZ did not hold any trust board meetings until June 2004.  Since its inception (and at time of the audit), AWINZ has held 4 Trust Board meetings. The deed of trust and Revocation required 24 meetings between the financial years of 2001/02-2007/08. There were no meetings for three of the 7 financial years of operation.”

2.       There were therefore no other meetings of the alleged trust other than the four occasions mentioned up until August  2008  when the audit was conducted .

3.        The documents from the law society accounted for all four meetings as follows.

3. 3. 1. 2004  referred to in the minutes  10/5/2006

3. 3. 1.  The  meeting 10/5/2006 

3. 3. 1. 13 July 2006 telephone meeting 

3. 3. 1. 14/8/2006 meeting

3. We therefore know what happened at each of the last three meetings. The first meeting June 2004 is not recorded but its time frame speaks volumes.   

5.       Section 7 of the trust deed  1.3.2000   – Term of Office and Vacancies (a) The term of appointment of each Trustee shall be 3 years provided that upon the expiry of any term of any term of appointment each Trustee, unless a person to whom any of the provisions of clause 7.3 (b) {i), (iii), (iv), (v} or (vi) applies, shall be eligible for reappointment.

a.       The deed was signed 1.3.2000 when Tom Didovich drove to each trustee and witnessed their signatures.

                                                              i.      It is significant that Didovich is now a trustee  according to the trust deed  5/12/2006

b.       By the terms of the  trust deed  1.3.2000   “ term of office “ the trustees term expired 1.3.2003

5. 5. 3. There were no meetings there were therefore no reappointments.

5. 5. 3. This means that from 1.3.2003 the trust which had no assets, had no trustees and therefore ceased to exist.

5. Unincorporated trusts do not have perpetuity they only exist through their trustees and their deed.  Therefore no trustees.. no trust .

Why the deed 5/12/2006  is not a deed of Revocation

7. The  deed dated 5/12/ 2006   is  therefore not  a deed of revocation  because

1. 1. 1. there was no continuity of trust- there was nothing to revoke

1. 1. 1. there was no meeting  to  alter  the deed

1. 1. 1. there was no resolution to change the deed.

1. 1. 1. If anything it is the deed of an entirely new trust.

1. 1. This trust became a charity and used the charitable funds to fund litigation which commenced before this trust was formed.- see statement of claim

OIA question  1  If there is an argument for the trust continuing to exist  after t1.3.2003  could you please advise what  evidence you considered   being  case law  . legislation  or  any other evidence ( other than an assumption)  which gives  the trust  established 1.3.2000   any  legal  continuity after  1.3.2003.

OIA question  2  If the trust  ceased to exist  on 1.3.2003   because  by  its own trust deed  the trustees were not re appointed  how can the trust deed  5/12/2006have any legal standing  since it is revoking a non-existent trust. Please provide all evidence which you considered which would  give a legal foundation to the deed 5/12/2006  being a deed of revocation or any deed  which gives continuity of trust.  ( please refer to the  minutes of the meetings  it appears that there was no meeting when this deed was signed and no resolutions  to change the deed.)

Appointment of HOADLEY

8. With regards to  the appointment of Wyn Hoadley  if the  trust had existed legally (by  acting according to its deed ) or by any evidence which you may  rely on ,   then her appointment should have been made in accordance with  Section 4 of the  Charitable trust act  1957 which provides for  the appointment of trustees ,

4 Evidence of appointment of trustees

·         (1) For the purpose of preserving evidence of every appointment of new trustees to which section 3 applies and of the persons in whom any estate or interest in property from time to time becomes legally vested, every such appointment shall be made to appear by a memorandum under the hand of the chairman for the time being of the meeting at which the appointment was made, and shall be executed either in the presence of that meeting or at any time after that meeting, and attested by 2 or more witnesses.

(2) Any such memorandum may be in the form or to the effect of Schedule 1, or as near thereto as circumstances will allow, and may be given and shall be received as evidence in all courts and proceedings in the same manner and on the like proof as deeds, and shall be evidence of the truth of the several matters therein stated.

9. The only record of Hoadley appointment are the minutes  10/5/2006 , these minutes were missing in 2008 according to the audit report recorded as follows

 “Neil Wells was unwilling to allow MAF’s auditors to sight all AWINZ papers and records on the basis that some papers and records were either confidential or unrelated  to AWINZ role  as an approved organisation. This limited the evidence available to us to for our opinion. We were advised that AWINZ does not own any computers or other assets and that Neil Wells uses his own personal laptop for AWINZ business. Neil told us that ,a recent computer problem with his personal laptop meant that many of AWlNZ governance and  business activity records (e.g , emails concerning agreements and discussions-between Trustees) had been lost.“

4.1.3 “During our audit visit, we were unable to review all records of commitments and decisions made by the organisation. Neil Wells told us that many of the electronic copies of these records had been lost in a computer hardware accident.”

10. 10. The minutes which allegedly confirm Hoadley’s appointment were created in 2011 (right click  on the  open document and select properties )   .minutes  10/5/2006

10. The  Deed however sets out criteria for legal minutes  and these  minutes are not legally acceptable minutes  according to the trust deed  as they have not been signed according to the  provisions of the trust deed

11.11 Minutes of Meetings:

Minutes of all resolutions and proceedings of all meetings of the Trustees shall be prepared by the Secretary and. if confirmed at a subsequent meeting of the Trustees, shall be signed by the chairperson of the meeting as a true and correct record of those proceedings

12. Additionally the deed ( singular )   was missing  and she was appointed under a section number  ( 7a) which  does not appear in the only deed relied upon as being a copy of the true deed 

OIA question  3   Please provide all evidence on which you rely for the  valid appointment of  Wyn Hoadley as a trustee  in 2006  which enabled  her to  use charitable  funds to pay for litigation ..

Decision to obtain charitable status

13. If there were only four meetings prior to August 2008, how was the decision made to become a charity in September 2007?  Who made that decision, how was it a resolution of the trust?

OIA question  4   Please provide copies of  evidence which you rely upon which show   that the trustees  consented to the application for charitable status and  that this decision as not  just made by one person.

OIA question  5   Please provide  the evidence on which you rely   that would enable  the charitable trust which formed by way of trust deed 5/12/2006  to pay for  litigation for a group of people  who pre-existed the formation of that  trust .

OIA question  6   Please provide  copies of he legislation  or case law which you rely on  which allows  trusts to   exist  in circumstances where by they do not   comply with their deeds in  any manner or form and stilt be considered a valid trust. .

OIA question  7 Please provide the minimum standards of compliance to a trust deed  which the charity  commission considers   necessary for a trust to exist.e.g.   if I say I lost  a trust deed    and re-sign  a  deed   to replace it  & the trustees don’t meet  at all  is that  trust still  considered valid ?

OIA question  8   Please look at the invoice which has been made out to  AWINZ  June and July 2006 these total  $9099    then look at the chronology below   which incorporates the details on those invoices ..  Please provide the evidence  which the  charities commission  relies upon to  validate the   expenditure  to Brookfields ( which shows in the  financial statements as well ) as being consented to by the trustees in a lawful manner  when the  minutes  show that there  was never such a  consensus.   

OIA question  9   Please provide the guidelines   which  the charities commission refers to for determining if there is any misappropriation of charitable funds.

OIA question  10  In view of the charities commission    having found the activities of this  trust to be legitimate  could you please advise if the  charities  commission will have a need for trust deeds in the future as they appear to serve no useful  function.

10/05/2006	Awinz board meeting  Wyn Hoadley is allegedly appointed.  minutes  10/5/2006
22/05/2006	Sarah resigns  when Brookfileds send the letter on behalf of AWINZ  Sarah had already resigned  yet an out of date deed was supplied Resignation of Giltrap
2/06/2006	legal executive for Brookfields contacts me,  how was she instructed, the trust had no mandate !   No meetings have  occurred to allow her  to be acting for the  ” trust ”
13/06/2006	Telephone to Neil Wells invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
13/06/2006	Internal conferences invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
14/06/2006	Drafting letter to Grace Haden invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
15/06/2006	E-mail to Neil Wells invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
16/06/2006	Internal conferences invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
21/06/2006	Registrars letter – advises of the procedure  to challenge the registration of the legitimate incorporated  trust  and charity
26/06/2006	E-mail to  Grace Haden invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
27/06/2006	E-mail to and from Grace Haden invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
27/06/2006	Telephone to Neil Wells invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
27/06/2006	Facsimile and email from Neil Wells invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
27/06/2006	LETTER_TRUSTEES.from Brookfield’s   to Plaintiffs.
27/06/2006	Emails  from Wright  continually refer to AWINZ as though it  is a real person, in reality he had no mandate to act for or on behalf of the trust AWINZ formed by way of trust deed 1.3.2000   so who was he acting  for ?
28/06/2006	Telephone from Neil Wells invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
28/06/2006	E-mail to and from Grace Haden invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
28/06/2006	Research precedent invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
29/06/2006	E-mail to and from Grace Haden & Neil Wells invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
4/07/2006	Nuala resignation   Resignations take effect 30 days  after notification  Grove was  therefore still a trustee  when litigation commenced, Hoadley was oversees and absence, How did they get a quorum to  instruct the lawyers ?  And there is no record of  any  meetings which   allow for lawyers to be instructed. Resignation of Grove
4/07/2006	amending the SOC invoice referenceAWINZ invoices charities
9/07/2006	Email to  Wyn Hoadley  this is a strange email, It doesn’t look like an email and it tells Wyn that she became a trustee,  she was  allegedly the chair person at that meeting.. This is very odd. She is also asked to approve lawyer’s fees for up to  $10,000 how come this was not done at a meeting ?
13/07/2006	13 July 2006 telephone meeting
18/07/2006	Statement of Claim Parties to the claim
14/08/2006	awinz meeting• Minutes 14/8/2006
5/12/2006	deed 5/12/ 2006
1/05/2007	minutes awinz meeting MAF
29/05/2007	Didovich affidavit
30/06/2008	AWINZ Financials  2008
Aug-08	date of  Audit  by MAF  by this  time there had  only been 4 meetings of AWINZ  EVER

 

I look forward to a response on these matters