Most went to British, US and Canadian pension funds based in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands and Jersey in the English Channel. Moving Australian assets to entities based in tax havens is not in Australia's national interest and it's also grossly unfair to legitimate Australian business that pays tax. In fact, the land sold by KordaMentha (KM in this article) was originally paid for by tax owed to the Australian people. Under the corrupt MIS tree farming schemes, tax can still be written-off by investing in tree plantations. This distorted system created the notorious 'Ponzi schemes' of Great Southern, Timbercorp, FEA and Gunns. When the Ponzi schemes collapsed KM was often called-in by a bank. In order to claw-back funds, KM mindlessly sold assets to the only available buyers, none of whom were Australian, because the MIS scams had already sucked-up all the available funds and goodwill in this country.
In 2009 KM sold 95,000 hectares of Timbercorp forests to US-operated GFP (Global Forest Partners) via Cayman Islands-based AIF Properties.
KM then shifted Timbercorps 12,000 hectare almond estate to Singapore ownership.
In 2010 19,700 hectares owned by Willmott Forests also went to GFP via KM.
In 2014 New Forests bought 175,000 hectares of land owned by Gunns from KM.
New Forests has deep pockets thanks to the Cambium Global Timberland Fund based on the island of Jersey.
KM pulled some interesting stunts in Tasmania selling a Gunns-owned wood chip loading port to one of Gunns creditors. Nobody knows how much money Gunns owed the Tasmanian Government because it has never been disclosed.
KORDAMENTHA - Financial Shapeshifters
So what are KordaMentha? Because they started life as liquidators they don't have to list with the ASX as a public company. They are just a partnership, but one that rakes-in bucketloads of other people's money as more Aussie businesses fail. And it's been a dream ride in post GFC Australia for KM. From the day John Howard and KM realised they could split the Ansett Ticket levy between them long after it had paid the employees entitlements, government and KM played as a team. This must have been a defining moment for KM as they learned how to fill the unregulated space of corporate embalmer by playing politics at the top and pretending to help the regulator (ASIC).
The result is that KM is now a financial conglomerate that includes funds management, real estate and advisory firm '333'. All of this beyond the control of the market with only minimal oversight?
 |
| KM investigates it's own client CommBank |
The screen grab above shows that KM's clients include the Australian Government and the Commonwealth Bank. So how can ASIC, that reports to the Australian Government 'appoint' KM to investigate one of KM's own clients the Comm Bank?
Thats what happened but in the unregulated free-for-all that is the KM feeding frenzy, it's the 'perception of corruption' that matters the most, rather than actual conflict of interest and even blatant cronyism and corruption.
Hilariously, KM host Transparency Internationals annual 'Corruption Perceptions Index. As if? KM really must have a lot to hide but they have to 'launder' all that spare cash somehow. Funding horse racing, bike races and even picking the winner of the soccer world cup are work activities for the rich little brats at KM to waste distressed dollars on. How long can it last? KM will start to write their own legislation again after learning how easy it is to get a law through a state parliament. They may bring back corporate defamation to stop sites like this blowing the whistle on them, even though KM claim they are not a corporation.
One thing KM has shown the rest of us: There is plenty of free air above the Mount Everest of corporate regulation and red tape that the rest of Australia is buried in. Being financially crippled is optional in KM's world. The trough is vast and wide and so global isn't it KM?
No comments:
Post a Comment