Hubbard's extraordinary attack: flash cars make you a hero
Embattled South Canterbury president Allan Hubbard has delivered an extraordinary attack on statutory managers of his business and critics of his financial skills.The outburst comes in the latest edition of the Farmers Weekly, where Mr Hubbard said he was
Matt Nippert
Fri, 15 Oct 2010
Embattled South Canterbury president Allan Hubbard has delivered an extraordinary attack on statutory managers of his business and critics of his financial skills.
The outburst comes in the latest edition of the Farmers Weekly, where Mr Hubbard said he was treated differently from other failed financiers:
"I have got a lot of satisfaction and happiness from all the help I have given many people over many years. But I am a bastard for doing that. If I had wasted my money on flash cars and houses, I would be a hero. New Zealand doesn't like anybody that departs from the norm."
Mr Hubbard conceded that his financial empire was complex, but said problems experienced by Grant Thornton in untangling his web of companies was due to their incompetence. "The problem with the statutory managers is there is nobody with the brains to understand," he said.
Mr Hubbard also claimed that all of Aorangi Securities investments in the rural sector were safe. "There is no risk of funds to rural and farming businesses," he said.
Mr Hubbard also said he never borrowed from South Canterbury: "I never borrowed from SCF for my private funds."
These claims sharply contrast with Grant Thonton's third report, which flagged significant losses to Aorangi due to related-party lending: "The assessment of the Aorangi investment portfolio requires further loan and property value review work. Possible losses from Southbury and Te Tua could total $25 million."
Grant Thornton's second report said Aorangi investments were to highly-geared diary farms and were in default: “Much of the money is invested in minority interests in approximately 25 farms as well as in a charitable trust administered by Mr Hubbard and a number of other commercial entities, some of which are of poor quality. These investments do not generate sufficient income to pay the interest due to Aorangi’s investors”
Matt Nippert
Fri, 15 Oct 2010
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