The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) today announced that it had appointed a new trustee to a Perth-based superannuation fund which has blamed the loss of two thirds of its contributions on fraud by a former trustee director.
"The $1 million fund has allegedly been defrauded over a period of four years," said APRA spokesperson Bill Gole. "APRA considered that the interest of the fund is best served by an independent trustee who can review all of the events of the four years over which the frauds have allegedly occurred; and make an informed, independent and objective judgement of the actions which should be taken in member interests."
"Because the former trustee was in place throughout the period of the frauds, it could not bring to bear that level of objectivity," said Mr Gole.
At the same time, APRA acknowledged the work of the remaining director of the former trustee in commencing the recovery operations for the fund at his personal expense.
The acting trustee is Denara Nominees Pty Ltd, a company put forward by the accountancy firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Its Directors are Mr Geoff Totterdell, an insolvency expert and partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Ms Catherine Nance, a superannuation expert and actuary. The acting trustee has both a statutory and common law obligation to act in the interests of the fund members. It is likely that Denara Nominees will continue litigation commenced by the former trustee, and explore other avenues to restore as much value as possible to the fund.
For further information contact:
Gloria Peterson
Public Affairs Manager
02 9210 3385
