Former ComCom deputy Curtin facing further court action
The Commerce Commission is keeping former deputy head Donal Curtin as a member of the watchdog even though he is being taken to court for a second time over his role at defunct financial advisory firm Vestar.In a statement released today, the Commer
Robert Smith
Tue, 09 Mar 2010
The Commerce Commission is keeping former deputy head Donal Curtin as a member of the watchdog even though he is being taken to court for a second time over his role at defunct financial advisory firm Vestar.
In a statement released today, the Commerce Commission said it was aware court proceedings had been filed against the commissioner, following in the footsteps of other private parties who started similar proceedings last year.
The announcement comes almost a year after Mr Donal resigned as deputy chairman of the Commission.
He first joined the organisation in 2002, but ran into trouble last year for failing to adequately disclose his involvement with Vestar.
A ComCom inquiry found that Mr Curtin’s regular disclosures for the watchdog’s register of interests fell short of commission policy standards and requirements from November 2007 until April 2008.
On his disclosure forms during the time in question, Mr Curtin simply listed parent company MFS, without disclosing that he has served as chairman of Vestar’s investment committee at a time when the firm’s name had been tarnished though public links to investments in a number of failed companies.
Despite today’s announcement, Mr Curtin will remain a member of the organisation. The Commission said Mr Curtin had been “allocated to tasks that do not involve him in decision-making related to enforcement actions under either the Fair Trading Act or Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act”.
The commission is refusing to make any further comment, but said that “other steps” were being taken to ensure that conflicts of interest would not arise.
Robert Smith
Tue, 09 Mar 2010
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