The chief executive of The Trust Company (Trust) has urged members of a parliamentary inquiry into Trio Capital to exclude the company’s conduct as a trustee of a Trio linked trust in any of its inquiry findings.
Trust chief John Atkin said it would “not be appropriate” for the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (PJC) to make any findings in to the group’s conduct as trustee of the Pooled Professionals Pensions’ Superannuation Trust (PPPST), particularly as neither the PJC nor ASIC has investigated the company’s conduct.
Atkin’s comments were in response to criticisms made in a number of Trio submissions filed to the inquiry.
The submissions made reference to ASIC’s 24 January 2012 enforceable undertakings (EU) with Tony Maher.
In particular, the submission claims that Trust advised Maher that it was “reluctant to change the investment strategy of PPPST or to approve investments in such alternative investments”, Atkin said in a letter to the PJC.
In response to the claim, Atkin said the comments quoted in the EU were note made by Trust but was a statement Maher offered to ASIC.
“The Trust Company’s reluctance to approve an investment in property by PPPST was due to The Trust Company’s concern that in its capacity as outgoing trustee that it should not approve an investment that did not have the support of the incoming trustee,” Atkin’s letter, dated 16 April, said.
“The incoming trustee’s support for the investment was provided before the investment was approved.
Atkin said the EU centres on the conduct of Maher and Maher alone.
“We presented information to ASIC as the former trustee of PPPST to support ASIC’s inquiry in relation to the conduct of [Maher],” the letter said.
“Importantly, at no stage has ASIC investigated The Trust Company’s conduct or suggested any misconduct on our part. It is inappropriate for the submissions to draw what are at best speculative inferences from an unrelated investigation.”
Atkin said Trust “sympathises” with those investors who lost money as a result of the collapse of Trio.
The PJC is due to release the findings of its inquiry next month.
