Millions of super fund members will be levied to bail out a disgraced Western Australian super fund.
The Federal Government has paid $1.48 million to members of the Strategic Capital Superannuation Fund, Assistant Treasurer Peter Dutton said yesterday.
The grant is 90 per cent of $1.64 million in lost retirement savings of around 500 members of the Perth-based retail fund.
The grant will come from the government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund and be recovered by a small levy on Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) regulated funds.
The levy is based on membership numbers and size of assets under management.
In 2004 APRA banned the fund’s former directors, Michael van Rens, Anthony Glass, Damien Foley and Terrence Lawson and its auditor, Kelvin Roehr.
The four men are alleged to have committed fraud and theft while running the fund while Roehr was found to be unqualified for the job.
An APRA investigation uncovered inappropriate and non-arm’s-length investments and bad record keeping.
The regulator said the fund took contributions from the public while posing as a retail super fund.
The fund’s acting trustee, accounting services firm Deloitte, said the decision sends a strong message to super fund members.
“The government will protect your hard earned dollars if your fund suffers a financial loss as a result of fraudulent conduct or theft that makes it difficult to pay benefits and where a grant is in the public interest,” Deloitte Management director Tony Brain said.
Deloitte has fixed the fund’s accounts, started an investment strategy and distributed around $11 million to members.
