Tag: freedom of information

Pre-Action Protocol letter to Ministry of Finance pursuant to FoI Application of 11 May 2012

preactionWhat is being pursued here is our right as citizens of a modern republic to the details of these huge expenditures of Public Money – the CL Financial bailout is costing some $24Bn, about $3.5Bn USD! – and the background to how critical legislative support is obtained.  It is my view that S.34 was not the first time and that the spectre of ‘regulatory capture’, which underlines much of the discourse around the Great Depression 2, is in fact founded on a sinister degree of ‘legislative capture’.

Having had a series of ‘cat and mouse’ exchanges with the Ministry of Finance since my Freedom of Information Act application made on 11 May 2012, this is my pre-action protocol letter sent to them by my attorney on Thursday 7 March, seeking their proper reply in 7 days…that time expires at midnight today, Wednesday 13 March, so stay tuned, because we are going to the High Court after that…

Replying to the Ministry of Finance on our Freedom of Information application of 8th May 2012…

letter-tiltI was trying to find out these four things –

  1. CL Financial accounts and if those are not available, the figures on which the Minister of Finance has been relying
  2. The presentation made to Members of Parliament in September 2011 to brief them prior to the debate on the Central Bank (Amendment) Bill and the Purchase of Certain Rights and Validation Bill 2011
  3. Details on the composition of the creditors of the CL Financial group, in particular EFPA holders.  I was asking who was owed money and who got paid.  That is at the centre of this issue
  4. Declarations filed by Directors and Officers of the CL Financial group under the IPLA – I have since established that those declarations are not being filed, so this pursuit is about the first three questions.  

A fuller background on all this can be read here.

This is my reply to the letter sent by the Ministry of Finance on 14th August 2012.

Stay tuned, because this is going to be a real battle to get at the truth.

Second FoI Application for Duprey Letter

Application #2 for Duprey Letter

This is a second attempt to get at the Duprey letter – the first application was eventually deflected by the Ministry, who asked us to refer to the Central Bank. I believe that was a barefaced attempt to stifle our request with the fact that the Central Bank is exempt from the FoI Act.

My request for the 2008 audited accounts is based on the terms of the 12th June CL Financial Shareholders’ Agreement – Section 4 of the SA sets out the procedure for a proper system of accounts, culminating at 4.4.5 – “…shall ensure that an annual report of CLF is prepared and dispatched…in manner consistent with standard corporate practice…” The accepted interpretation of this language informs us that the word ‘shall’ denotes an obligatory, non-voluntary duty. If that is the case, when can we expect publication of the 2008 annual report, accompanied by audited accounts, as per ‘standard corporate practice’?