Taranaki iwi faces multi-million dollar Korean fishing venture shortfall
BUSINESSDESK: Taranaki iwi Ngati Tama faces a multi-million dollar shortfall from its investment in a Korean fishing vessel, whose Indonesian crew jumped ship last year amid claims of abuse and substandard pay conditions.
Liquidator Peter Coleman says the unsecured creditors of Tuere Fishing, which operated the Korean-flagged vessel FV Shin Ji, face a shortfall of some $3.4 million, according to his first report. The fishing company owes some $4.6 million to shareholder Ikatuna, the holding company used by Ngati Tama.
Tuere's most valuable asset is its Korean fishing licence, which provides import duty tariff concessions and reduced live fish quarantine requirements in the Asian nation.
The licence does not have a book value, but Mr Coleman estimates he can realise $1 million from it as they are "highly sought after by Korean fishing entities", he says. That is more than half the $1.8 million realisable total he has put against Tuere's assets.
Earlier this year, Ngati Tama told its 5000 members it had lost almost $20 million from a series of bad investments, wiping out its 2003 Treaty settlement of $14.5 million.
The investment portfolio had been overseen by the seven-member Ngati Tama Development Trust, led by Greg White, who drove the settlement negotiations a decade ago. He has since resigned.
The Korean Shin Ji vessel attracted publicity after the crew walked off the ship and was detained by Maritime New Zealand as part of its investigation into compliance with local law.
The incident was one of several that prompted the government to look at its requirements for foreign fishing vessels, and resulted in international boats needing to register under New Zealand law within four years.
Tuere appointed Mr Coleman as a voluntary administrator in June last year after seven former crew alleged unpaid wages of $1.1 million, a claim which has since been settled.
It was tipped into liquidation in February this year after director Hyun Choi put forward a two-year moratorium on repayments to Ikatuna, a deal the shareholder refused.
The Shin Ji vessel has since left New Zealand waters for Fiji after the detention was lifted.
Mr Coleman says there have been "several apparent breaches of the various specific responsibilities required of the directors", including failing to act in good faith, particularly in relation to conflicts of interest on related party transactions, providing company records, and converting the company's assets".
"These offences are material to the liquidation of the company and in accordance with S258A of the Companies Act 1993; I am required to report this offending to the Register of Companies," Mr Coleman says.
He stressed fellow Tuere director Greg White of Ngati Tama was not at fault.
"To mitigate the consequences and potential loss to Tuere Fishing Ltd, an application has been made to the High Court in Fiji for a warrant of arrest against the fishing vessel, FV Shin Ji," he says. The hearing is scheduled for September 26.
Mr Coleman expects to proceed with further prosecution against Mr Choi.
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Comments and questions17
No different to the usual lottery windfall recipients we hear so often blow the lot. Some folk are just plain gullible and I guarantee if you trawl through this iwi's membership, hierarchy and 'associated' consultants you will find some are very comfortable thank you !
Teach a man how to fish ... and he is good for life.
Give a man a fish ...
You guys know the drill.
I cannot understand why the NZ government and Maoris cannot see the logic in helping the Maoris manage their treaty settlements properly and professionally.
Having recently spent some time with a very intelligent Maori gentleman I think I now understand the problem. In Maori society the elders holds all the cards. This does not mean they have business acumen, nor does it mean they are skilled in other ways. It just means they are the elders and as such they are respected. The Gentlemen mentioned earlier explained it thus: In his Iwi they have the elders running the ship; many come from the freezing works back ground or just a laborers background. He said there are many 40-55 year olds with many skills, but they are not allowed their say in how things can be done. So their answer is to sit and wait for the elders to die. There are some Iwi who had the excellent leaders and who have prospered, but in Ngati Tama unfortunately you had a man who was able to get the funds then but no idea on how to invest, backed by those with their noses in the trough. I don’t think they will ask for another settlement on land, but there is the water, sun and wind still to be settled
You’re absolutely correct; in Maori culture the elders rule everything. If younger more educated Maori try and make a stand they get shot down and labelled as disrespectful. If ‘outsider’s’ suggest that the elders should stand down then they are labelled as racist.
It is a lose-lose situation.
Also the next generation will demand handouts, as they are disadvantaged by the settlements.
Is anyone surprised? Making iwi to be the biggest beneficiaries in the country inevitably means that they will suffer most from all the ills of dependency.
What you are unaware of is the fact that Maori land settlement payments are only ever made when there is a clear cut case of wrongful land confication. Its not a dependancy payment, but a payment for something that was taken. What you also probably dont know is that there is what is called a fiscal envelope that limits what Maori can be paid - in the case of most land settlements, the actual payout will represent far less that 10 percent of what they have established was wrongfully taken from them - this is like you getting paid far less than $5000 when your $50,000 BMW is wrongfully taken. This does not even recognise the time value of money, ie the value that Maori could have derived had they had a valuable land asset from which wealth could have been derived for the past 100 plus years.
Why not use real examples TRAB? If I've insured my BMW on a fair market value then I'm likely to receive that amount as a payout. If my ancestors owned a block of land they may or may not have realized maximum value from ownership. They may have also been very pleased with a relatively small sale price or may have pissed it up against the wall. If the Crown paid out maximum imaginable value in each case, based on disputable evidence, then the country would be well and truly bust. As it is there is at present a process in which some justice can be seen but there do remain a few who would only be content with the moon... (and the stars and few planets thrown in). TRAB, you might benefit somewhat by altering the choice of your reading - you are being a bit selective!!!!
LOL.We have the most resource rich country in the word.Ruined by not standing up to special interest groups.This includes the NZ oligarchs from the 80 s who live off shore.
I'm sorry but if these settlements are meant to benifit all Ngati Tama, why don't they share the dividends of each settlement fairly amongst everyone? With all the money various governments has handed out over the decades most maori should be relatively prosperous by now.
Surely that would stop the complaints of them being hard done by on their benifit payouts from the government.
Problem with treaty money is they try to use it to make more money, rather than investing it into targeted projects that benefit maori such as
- Education
- Job creation
- Youth support \ mentoring
Greed gets you nowhere.
Greed gets you everywhere unfortunately in NZ.
Look at the obscene money made by the likes of Eric Watson, Alan Gibbs, Michael Fay, David Richwhite, Mark Hotchin, Charles Bidwell etc.
The behaviour of this lot may pale (no pun intended) into F and C paper, compared to the bunsen now burning under the 10ths "Trust".
I don't think you can afford to paint all Iwi with the same brush. Other Iwi have used their settlements wisely, and are admirrably investing in future generations though business and education so to avoid the dependecy trap mentioned by others. E.g Tuwharetoa.
Of course however, that doesn't make for an appealing news story.
So what's stopping future generations from loosing out on this 'Share Plus" offer. We have seen what has happened to F & P, Fonterra next? Stop the asset sales. It's just not good business for NZ
Don't talk such emotive nonsense.
It's the great potential failing of the tribal system, where the tribe is the important thing, and the individual is inconsequential. Then historically the elders know how thing are done, and are responsible for running the tribe along tried and true lines. Unfortunately the tried and true lines no longer work, and an iwi may have knowledgeable and effective elders, or it may not.