Christchurch City Council : Highly Dubious Entity #YaldhurstSubdivision

Subject: Ongoing Property Dispute at Yaldhurst Subdivision

Christchurch City Council held a full council meeting on 27 July 2017.

Readers, the CCC meeting video of Agenda item 26, about Yaldhurst Subdivision, is recommended viewing/listening.

Legal advice to Council is given by Rob Goldsbury, CCC Head of Legal Services – an atrociously lacklustre, unjust and obstructive performance.

The Council stupidly steps itself into (again!) the Constructive Fraud Action being progressed at the Christchurch High Court by Residents/Caveators of the Yaldhurst Subdivision. Although, we see that Councillors supposedly have no idea they’re already in it up to their eyeballs through the actions of Council staff and issues of non-compliance. Interesting.

Christchurch City Council Published on Jul 26, 2017
Christchurch City Council VIDEO
27.07.17 – Item 26 – Yaldhurst Village Subdivision – Dedication of Road – Sir John McKenzie Avenue

The video continues at about 1:26 after a preliminary silence [muted blue screen] – keep watching. The quality of picture is poor throughout. The discomfort of those seen in the public gallery is most perceptible.

Meeting Agenda and Unconfirmed Minutes follow here below – minus Attachment A, Yaldhurst Village Lots 601,613 Plan.

The Council did not vote unanimously.

The Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board motion was lost.

With the second motion, in short, the Council resolved that Lots 601 (residential) and 613 (commercial) on LT 448725 will be dedicated under Section 349 of the Local Government Act 1974 as a road, in order for the road to vest.

The resolution goes against the Residents’ private property rights.

See the previous post to refresh on the Residents’ situation.

Note, by the votes for, the dishonesty and incompetence present.

Note, by the votes against, the integrity of those supporting the Community Board and members of their community: the private property owners (the Residents), in their protracted, brave and courageous fight against an unjust malevolent council staff working in cahoots with unscrupulous developers.

Vicki Buck is a class act.
Rob Goldsbury, an utterly shameful man.

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Christchurch City Council
Agenda

Notice of Meeting:
An ordinary meeting of the Christchurch City Council will be held on:

Date: Thursday 27 July 2017
Time: 10.05am
Venue: Council Chambers, Civic Offices,
53 Hereford Street, Christchurch

….

[agenda item]
Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board

26. Yaldhurst Village Subdivision – Dedication of Road – Sir John McKenzie Avenue ………. [page] 529

[the report]
Council
27 July 2017

Report from Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board  – 13 June 2017
 
26. Yaldhurst Village Subdivision – Dedication of Road – Sir John McKenzie Avenue
Reference: 17/733313
Contact: Richard Holland richard.holland@ccc.govt.nz 941 8690
 
Note that this report was left to lie on the table at the Council meeting on 6 July 2017.
 
1. Staff Recommendations
 
That the Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board recommend to the Council:

1. That Lots 601 (residential) and 613 (commercial) on LT 448725 will be dedicated under Section 349 of the Local Government Act 1974 as a road, in order for the road to vest.

2. Note that a Deed of Indemnity will be executed by Infinity Yaldhurst Limited which will indemnify and keep indemnified the Council from all actions, proceedings and claims made by any land owner in relation to the Council accepting the dedication of Lots 601 and 613 on LT 448725, as road.

3. Also note that the Council shall not be required to issue a Section 224(c) Certificate under the Resource Management Act 1991 in respect to Lots 601 and 613 on LT 448725 until all the safety audit requirements as specified by the Council, and included in the Variations of the subdivision consent, have been physically built to the Council’s satisfaction.

4. That the General Manager City Services be delegated authority to negotiate and enter into on behalf of the Council, such documentation required to implement the dedication.
 
2. Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board Recommendation to Council
 
Part A

That the Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board recommend to the Council:

1. Option 2 of the staff report, namely, That the Council not agree to a dedication process and inform Infinity Yaldhurst Limited to pursue the matter through the Courts in accordance with the Property Law Act.
 
2. That the Council agree to meet with the adjoining property owners to discuss options on a way forward regarding the Yaldhurst Village Subdivision.
 
Vicki Buck and Anne Galloway requested that their votes against the above decision, be recorded.
 
Attachments
There are no attachments for this report.

Rainy Day reading —The Spinoff : Ministry of Transport fraud case

The ever-deepening storm centred on the Joanne Harrison fraud case just became a hurricane. Yesterday’s State Services Commission investigation report is likely to trigger a new chain of events that could extend well beyond embattled Auditor General Martin Matthews, writes Peter Newport

### thespinoff.co.nz July 21, 2017
Politics
The Ministry of Transport fraud case: Why the rot goes deeper than Joanne Harrison
By Peter Newport | Contributing writer
The State Services Commission investigation, published yesterday, makes one thing very clear: Joanne Harrison influenced the exit of four fellow Ministry of Transport employees who tried to tell their bosses that she was a fraudster. She managed to hire friends and steal over $700,000 from the ministry despite numerous staff attempting to call attention to her actions. This all happened while she was reporting directly to then-chief executive Martin Matthews, who is now our auditor general – albeit on temporary leave. The Commission has now apologised and is offering compensation to those former staff members. Its report also highlights many other issues at the Ministry, arguing that the 17-year-old legislation that covers whistleblowers needs to be changed and improved.

A second investigation, into whether Martin Matthews is a suitable person to continue as auditor general, is due from Sir Maarten Wevers in the coming days. Matthews is currently constructing his response to the unpublished, but complete, Wevers investigation. He has been given until the end of this week to complete it.

The Harrison case has some similar dynamics to the Todd Barclay drama. It’s become less about the initial problem than how it was handled. Who told the truth and who tried to obscure or even bury the truth. The difference with the Harrison situation is that she is now in jail and the truth is coming out – fast.

The Spinoff has been looking at exactly who did what, and when. That job has been made easier by a new, recent MOT whistle-blower who has produced and provided to us a detailed timeline noting all the evidence, which we publish here, utilising material released by the Ministry of Transport and available to view here. The same whistle-blower has shared a bizarre insight into Martin Matthews’ statements during his time at the Ministry of Transport.

But first, a quick tour of the jigsaw puzzle of documents that reveal a picture of Martin Matthews being given not clues, or hints, but what appear to be multiple solid facts that highlighted Joanne Harrison as a Grade A con artist and thief.
Read more

Founded in 2014, The Spinoff is New Zealand’s fastest growing media startup, amassing a monthly New Zealand audience of over 500,000 in less than three years.
We’ve assembled a team of agenda-setting journalists and critics, working across text, audio and video to create a true 21st century media brand. In just two years, The Spinoff has been nominated for 24 Canon awards, winning six. Our growth has been driven by a creative editorial style and innovative business model, emphasising long-term relationships with like-minded brands and a close connection with a young, educated and urban audience. Duncan Greive won both NZ Marketing Magazine‘s Editor of the Year as well as the People’s Choice title for Editor and Media Visionary in their media issue, July 2017. The Spinoff also claimed the title for Digital Media Brand of the Year as well as the People’s Choice title for the same award.

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Comment received from russandbev
2017/07/21 at 10:52 am

The recent revelations about what happened to the whistleblowers in the Ministry of Transport have, I’d suggest, application in Dunedin. Think of the parallels. In the MoT case a manipulative person with a barely-hidden track record of fraud and vindictiveness as well as a well developed sense of entitlement goes about systematically defrauding a government department of close on 3/4 million dollars. Not through some incredibly complex fraud, but one of simply creating business that didn’t exist and creating invoices from them for services that were never provided. Not exactly something that would take a lot to investigate.

Whistleblowers blow the alarm whistles to their managers and nothing happens and the further up the chain the questions were asked, the more dismissive the denials became. Meantime the fraudster moves against the whistleblowers. The Head of the Ministry moves on to even more wondrous things as Auditor General (is that ironic or is that ironic?) and the Minister dismisses all suggestions of wrong-doing. Even the Speaker of the House who employs the Auditor General doesn’t want to get involved.

Now found that the whistleblowers were entirely vindicated by their concerns and they get private and public apologies and a confidential settlement to, in part, recompense them for their treatment by both a fraudster and by management and governance failures. The Protected Disclosures Act [2000] is supposed to protect whistleblowers in BOTH public and private sectors.

Now, I don’t think anyone is suggesting fraud in the case of Aurora/Delta and that should be made plain. However look at the track record of these companies. A fearful record of stupid property speculation costing many many millions which is still going on thanks to Yaldhurst. A willingness to go along with borrowing to supply dividends to the DCHL and the DCC. Decades of ignoring maintenance on the Aurora network closely linked to the governance requirements to minimise costs, maximise profits and supply dividends to build vanity projects by the owners and now the spendup of northwards of 3/4 billion dollars on urgent maintenance bought about these years of neglect.

And then think of the years and layers of denials that these things happened over. When Richard Healey found he could no longer keep working in the company because of all that was being hidden, he gets vilified by EVERYONE that should have listened. EVERYONE is in denial including his past Managers who continued to receive their grossly inflated salaries and those in governance – many of whom refused to even sit down with him and discuss his concerns.

Am I the only one to see the parallels in how a Ministry or a City company deals with whistleblowers? I wonder if we will ever see similar end results in the case of Richard Healey?

{Link added. -Eds}

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Reply from Elizabeth
2017/07/21 at 1:02 pm

Not involving Aurora:

Charges of Constructive Fraud have been brought, by joinder, against Delta Utility Services Ltd in the Christchurch High Court by the caveators (original property owners of the Noble Subdivision) at Yaldhurst. The case proceeds.

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[decisionmaker.co.nz] formatted by whatifdunedin

█ Transparency International New Zealand
http://www.transparency.org.nz/

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19.7.17 Southern Police : Nothing changed since Tom Lewis wrote Coverups & Copouts
18.7.17 Delta | Infinity | CCC staff collude to defeat Yaldhurst residents (again)
23.5.17 Topical debates on Corruption in New Zealand
22.2.17 Some Councils/CCOs get cleanup from FRAUD and CORRUPTION #NotAll
9.12.16 Auckland corruption charges proved —ring any bells? #South
28.1.16 New Zealand local government T-shirt #haze #corruption
20.9.15 Corruption serious threat to New Zealand #CAANZ
14.9.15 Screening tonight: Paradigm Episode 2! Local Government Corruption in NZ #Sky #YouTube
23.7.15 Publicise: laudafinem.org
13.5.14 Stuff: Colin Espiner usefully defines Corruption

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta | Infinity | CCC staff collude to defeat Yaldhurst residents (again)

Yaldhurst Subdivision (former Noble Subdivision)

S T A T E ● O F ● P L A Y

Christchurch City Council is failing to ensure compliance with the subdivision consent and is then assisting the developer Noble/Delta – Infinity/Delta, to screw the Yaldhurst residents.

[click to enlarge]

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About five of the affected Yaldhurst residents gave deputations to the full meeting of the Christchurch City Council on Thursday, 6 July 2017.

Prior to the meeting, the Infinity Joint Venture of which Delta is a majority partner (with its $13m gift investment from Dunedin City Council) had convinced CCC staff to sway Christchurch City councillors to vote for the dedication of private roads as opposed to vesting ownership in the Council. This in the attempt to first defeat land covenants the affected residents have over the property registered in 2003 to protect their inclusion in any subdivision. However, Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) cannot accept roads vesting in ownership with the Council when there are any encumbrances on the land – such as the residents’ covenants.

For the residents, Colin Stokes, at the council meeting, distributed to councillors a review of what CCC staff have done over the years.

Of course, as the facts flow they continue to entwine around Delta.

The residents are fighting to protect and enforce their rights in the subdivision consent; and to halt Delta and their Southern associates’ onslaught against them.

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Received from Colin Stokes (Yaldhurst resident and caveator)
Wed, 12 Jul 2017 at 9:16 a.m.

Thanks for your ongoing support Elizabeth

Chris Hutching’s piece (The Press 10.7.17) is weak and void of facts that present our case.

● We have Land Covenants registered over all the land in 2003 to protect our inclusion in any subdivision – our specific Access Lot road has to be formed and vested to Christchurch City Council standards with CCC as a term of extinguishment of the covenants.
● The encumbrance on the land prevent vesting of roads as LINZ won’t allow roads to vest with the council with them on.
● Infinity/Delta behind closed doors with CCC staff came up with a scheme to dedicate the roads under old rules (not compliant with the RMA and the subdivision consent) so as to circumvent our covenant protection.
● The real story is that CCC is breaking rules and NOT requiring compliance with the subdivision consent so as to cheat the residents of their protection and their interests protected by that protection so as CCC and the developer can cut them out of the subdivision.
● CCC and the developer Noble/Delta – Infinity/Delta have taken conditions out of the consent, varied the consent, and permitted non-complying undersized infrastructure that makes our part of the subdivision impossible – specifically stormwater pipes and basins required on the lower lying developers’ land which is where the consent (and physical topography and site layout) requires our stormwater to go.
● CCC failing to enforce the conditions of the consent as the law requires means our Access Lot road cannot be formed, meaning we can not subdivide.
● Delta with the misuse of mortgagee powers passed the property to itself, or at least part of the property ($13.4m of an $18.35m “sale” = 73% of which $12.5m was left in the property in passing it to Infinity in the orchestrated “sale”).

[ends]

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Prepared Summary and Review with subdivision plans as tabled at Christchurch City Council’s meeting (6 July), to assist understanding:

███ D 2017 07 04 Summary and Review of Circumvention of Covenants for Councillors Yaldhurst (16 pages)

1 Plan RMA92009135

2 Plan RMA92009135 hlite

The coloured plan shows the residents’ Access Lot between green lines going from Yaldhurst Rd and then dog-legging east to west. What is inside the yellow border is what is within the Subdivision Consent (note there is an internal yellow small 2 sites that are NOT in the consent – and 3 other of the residents’ lots in common ownership on the NS leg are not included in the consent).

It is this east west leg of the Access Lot that requires widened roading to enable the Lots each side to be subdivided pursuant to:-
– 2002 Agreements for sale and purchase (and 2008 further agreement)
– 2003 Registered Land Covenant Protection [see Summary and Review, page 1 para 2 for terms of extinguishment]
– 2009 Subdivision Consent (Condition 5 and stormwater Conditions for it 9.) [see Summary and Review, page 5 para 12]

The problem is
– the Security Sharing Joint Venture (Noble/Delta/Gold Band) SSJV designed and constructed their part of the subdivision such that it made the East West Access Lot owners (residents) parts of the subdivision impossible AND that the Council permitted this.

– Undersized stormwater infrastructure was corruptly installed without consent to NOT include the residents’ subdivisions (all the while falsely assuring residents it did).

– The stormwater is required to be on land the residents transferred to the developer in return for this stormwater and other provisions. It is required to be there for numerous reasons including physical and legal reasons;
* Residents transferred the land in return for this provision
* 2003 Land Covenants protect this land for that provision (required for the Access Lot Road to be formed and vested)
* 2009 The Subdivision Consent requires it to be on the developers’ land (Condition 9.5 which “disappeared”) [see Summary and Review, page 5 para 12 and page 10 email 16 Feb 2010]
* Residents that are part of that subdivision consent have the legal rights to the stormwater (s134 RMA) – the Council is refusing to enforce the conditions of the consent; and permitted the developer to NOT comply with the conditions.
* Land topography and layout physically requires it to go there. The land slopes High NWest to SEast Low

– Delta went ahead and constructed the infrastructure without legal consent – [see Summary and Review, page 10 email 22 Aug 2012]
* This is akin to a builder building a house without consent.
* Council failed to issue an abatement notice for works being complete without consent, and to non-complying standards.

For all the Council staff failings, and the consent holders and JV partners’ failings and corruption of making the residents parts of the subdivision impossible:-
– Delta/Infinity and Council staff are recommending to the Elected Council to vote to circumvent the residents’ Land Covenants so:-
* the residents roading and subdivisions will no longer be protected and will be impossible;
* the JV Infinity/Delta will make more profit by not having to comply with the conditions of the consent that requires the residents’ roading and inclusion (as above)
* Council staff “mistakes” and wrongdoing of permitting non-complying works and not enforcing the conditions of the consent (as required by law) will be covered up.

– Delta and DCC was the facilitator of transferring the property from the Delta/Gold Band/Noble Joint Venture to the Delta/Infinity Joint Venture.
– Delta (illegally) owned 67.5% of the 1st mortgage and controlled Gold Band through their Security Sharing JV.
– Delta’s assurances it had nothing to do with the mortgagee sale is a lie.
– Delta refused to allow Gold Band to accept offers to redeem the 1st mortgage (illegal under s102 & s103 Property Law Act).
– DCC refused to allow redemption of the 1st mortgage.
– DCC (and Delta) refused to accept assignment of the 1st mortgage when Colin Stokes and another (as parties with interests in the land entitled to redeem) offered it to them
* had they done, Delta could have registered about an additional $16m in agreements to mortgage they were sitting on
* all that was required in return was “our little road” which is a LEGAL REQUIREMENT of the subdivision consent in any event.

[ends]

As reported by The Press, the eight-year dispute involving the stalled Yaldhurst subdivision has now gone to mediation between the property owners and the developers.
The dispute has been aired in several High Court cases between the private landowners and the developers, which are continuing.

Related Post and Comments:
11.7.17 Delta has deep fingers into 8-year subdivision dispute at Yaldhurst

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta has deep fingers into 8-year subdivision dispute at Yaldhurst

Blind Justice (detail) by Beeler – Columbus Dispatch 2016 [caglecartoons.com]

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### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 17:37, July 10 2017
Delta and Infinity’s Yaldhurst subdivision dispute at mediation
By Chris Hutching – The Press
An eight-year dispute involving developers and a group of property owners in a stalled Christchurch subdivision has gone to mediation. Late last year Dunedin City Council agreed to authorise its Delta Utilities company to refinance a $13.4 million outstanding debt to go ahead and complete the Yaldhurst development along with Wanaka-based developer, Infinity. To allow the development to proceed, Christchurch City Council staff recently recommended the unusual step of “dedicating” the access road rather than “vest” it with the council. But a representative of the private property owners, Colin Stokes, told city councillors that his group’s rights to compensation for land for the road had not been addressed. […] The dispute has been aired in several High Court cases between the private landowners and the developers, which are continuing. Most people who originally signed up to buy properties at the subdivision have pulled out and meanwhile Christchurch’s residential property market has cooled significantly.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
15.6.17 Site Notice : post(s) removal [we heard from Steve Thompson’s solicitors]
4.3.17 Christchurch housing : ‘If you build the right thing, buyers will still come’
17.2.17 Gurglars visits the Delta/Noble JV subdivision at Yaldhurst
2.2.17 Hilary Calvert complaint to Auditor-General #DCHL
30.12.16 Hilary Calvert on Deloitte report for Aurora/Delta
12.12.16 Deloitte report released #Delta #Aurora
7.12.16 Audit and Review, Deloitte
26.9.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #14 : The Election and The End Game revisited
22.9.16 DCC : Delta deal 1 Aug 2016 Council meeting (non-public) #LGOIMA
9.9.16 Calvert on DCC, ‘We could have a much more democratic and transparent operation of council’
2.9.16 Delta Yaldhurst : Local Opinion + Update from Caveators via NBR
18.9.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #13 : Councillors! How low can you Zhao ?
26.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —EpicFraud #12 : The Buyer Confirmed
24.8.16 Delta peripheral #EpicFail : Stonewood Homes —Boult under investigation
8.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #11 : The Buyer
3.8.16 LGOIMA requests to DCC from Colin Stokes #Delta #Noble #Yaldhurst
1.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —The End Game according to CD
31.7.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #10 : The Beginning of the End : Grady Cameron and his Steam Shovel
29.7.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #9 : The Long & Winding Road…. Leads Back to Delta’s Door
21.7.16 Delta EpicFail #8 : Cr Calvert goes AWOL, 23 Questions for Mr McKenzie —Saddlebags !!
19.2.16 Delta: Update on Yaldhurst subdivision debt recovery
17.7.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #7 : The Long & Winding Back Road
15.7.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #6 : What do you mean, Property Law Act ?
12.7.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #5 – Delta and the ghostly hand of Tom Kain
8.7.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #4 : Tales from the Courtroom….
30.6.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #3 : Security Sharing and not Caring….. who’s got that Constricting Feeling ?
27.6.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #2 : WWTKD – What Would Tom Kain Do ?
5.6.16 Delta #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision —Epic Fraud
13.3.16 Delta #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision : [rephrased] Conflict of Interest
11.3.16 Delta peripheral #EpicFail : Stonewood Homes and ancient Delta history
6.3.16 Delta #EpicFail —Nobel Subdivision : A Neighbour responds
29.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision ● Some forensics
21.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

***Pssst #Delta CEO Grady replaced

An INTERNAL appointment has been made for the position of Chief Executive Officer at Delta Utility Services Ltd.

Which likely means few external executives with relevant experience wanted to apply for lead position in the ‘degraded’ council-owned company —but then, not many executives were left internally. What does that say…….

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Related Post and Comments:
5.3.17 Seeking the New Grady #Delta

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Seeking the New Grady #Delta

(try to ignore that sick feeling)

● https://www.seek.co.nz/job/32939468

Advt also at Otago Daily Times, Saturday, 4 Feb 2017
(Employment, page 51)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

DCC not Delta #EpicFail : Wall Street falsehoods and a world class debt

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Tue, 14 Feb 2017 at 9:16 a.m.

Readers 

We are at an interesting time in our local history. Your correspondent like hundreds of others was busy cleaning up yesterday, after what NIWA described as a fairly standard thunderstorm where just 13.6mm of rain fell. 

Also like hundreds of others no doubt, the question in the mind of your correspondent as he dutifully mopped, was : What is the next public asset to be exposed as poorly run, badly maintained and starved of funds ? 

Never before have the executive few lied so comprehensively about the true state of so much degraded public asset. Never before has so much public asset been destroyed by the actions of those few, as Winston might have said. 

Economists your correspondent is familiar with would call this the “tragedy of the commons”. We await the “macro-prudential” responses from Central Government. With the stupefying level of underfunding for DCC drainage and other underground services identified by the Auditor-General, coupled with Aurora Energy’s $1B deferred maintenance and capital work, plus the existing DCC debt, there is around $3B that will need to be extracted from ratepayers and power consumers over the next 30 years (see the Dunedin City Council Infrastructure Strategy). Dunedin has achieved its dream as a world leading small city – of debt per ratepayer. Dunedin will be broke beyond comprehension with the policy of 3% annual rises. The 3% limit is a mirage. Rate rises will be much, much more. Not this year, but quite possibly before the next election; if this council does not address the looming crisis there is the increasing possibility of the removal of the council and appointment of a commissioner. 

It seems that every week brings some fresh disaster or new development that the DCC attempts to cover up. 

Yesterday was a small but telling episode. David Loughrey of the Otago Daily Times kindly confirmed what your correspondent mentioned some months ago, that the DCC had terminated the services of Logic FM because the company would not look the other way while the DCC wilfully failed to fix hundreds of obvious fire rating defects at two of their major assets. 

Mr Kevin Taylor wrote that the council [fired] Logic because the company had been “interpreting code compliance…..beyond that required by the law”. Logic publicly scoffed at this saying – correctly – that the code is “relatively black and white”. 

What actually happened is that as well as the uncompleted fire penetrations, there is a case of simple DCC incompetence, which was only hinted at by infrastructure networks general manager Ruth Stokes in the ODT article. Here are the facts : The Wall Street mall required daily inspections of certain of its building safety systems. The DCC did not want to pay outside consultants to do this work. Fair enough, said Logic, we will train your staff to inspect the systems and they will then sign off a daily inspection sheet, which Logic as the IQP (Independent Qualified Person) need to sight every month. 

[teamarchitects.co.nz]

Month after month, the monthly reports could not be signed off because no one had completed the daily sign-off sheets. There were offers of more training to the apparently mule-like staff responsible but City Property could not be bothered to do it properly —and thought they could get away with not doing these daily inspections by appointing another more compliant IQP in-house and seeking cover with a further fire report by Beca. 

It is very relevant that after sacking Logic FM, and commissioning the report from Beca, DCC refused to provide a copy of the Beca report to Logic. Logic had asked repeatedly for the report to see what the alleged areas of “over compliance” were. 

It is ‘madeira cake to margarine sandwiches’ that there were no areas of over compliance, and but for Elizabeth Kerr’s LGOIMA request and latterly, the ODT, City Property may well have gotten away with inaccuracies! 

As it is, your correspondent sees only static for Mr Taylor in the DCC crystal ball. He is merely the latest in a line of unlamented DCC property managers, including Robert “Hydraulic” Clark, and Dave McKenzie.

Ruth Stokes also needs to very careful about stepping into this mess – and dissembling to protect Mr Taylor. Stating that “things could have gone a bit better, but they’ve all been addressed” does not fool anyone. Mr Taylor may have have fantasised to Ms Stokes that “all” the fire rating faults were fixed but remember your correspondent advised there were hundreds of faults, not just a few faults in one single wall as has been pretended. There is no way all the faults have been fixed. 

This is what Richard Healey would describe as the Delta dishonest reduction defence…. no, not a 1000 dangerous poles without red tags, but perhaps there are just a few…. and now we learn on that fiasco, that the ‘new’ Delta plan, unannounced to the region’s mayors, is that they can be magically restored to full strength by yet another re-classification.

Chief executive Sue Bidrose started her tenure with a promise of greater transparency and openness (read “honesty”) that was sorely needed. There was some early progress, but the transparency project appears a priority no more.

With the financial storm clouds assembling over the DCC that the chief executive cannot fail to be aware of, some honesty about the actual costs the DCC faces over the next decade is needed. It ranges from the small – just how much will it take to fix Wall Street mall to the $1B existential Aurora problem. The CEO and her staff have been invisible on this critical issue, instead producing reports of risible fantasy such as last year’s effort that valued Delta at over $50M, and Aurora at over $200M. Facing up to an austere decade is the only way that Dr Bidrose and Councillors will avoid having their careers and reputations destroyed by the appointment of a commissioner. 

[ends]

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Council Documents:
● DCC Infrastructure Strategy
● DCC Long Term Plan 2015/16 – 2024/25
● Audit Opinion – Independent auditor’s report on Dunedin City Council’s 2015-25 Long‑Term Plan. Author: Ian Lothian, Audit New Zealand on behalf of the Auditor‑General, Dunedin NZ.

ODT Stories:
14.2.17 Councils, Aurora poles apart on ‘removing risk’ definition
13.2.17 Without warrants for years
11.2.17 Aurora affected by pole, staff shortages
8.2.17 Action by Delta decried
29.12.16 Director for $30m pole project
2.12.16 Resignation blow to pole work

Related Posts and Comments:
22.1.17 DCC LGOIMA Response : Wall Street Mall and Town Hall Complex
30.11.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 7 : Kyle Cameron —The Money or the Bag?

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *wall street mall*, *richard healey*, *steve thompson*, *dchl*, *epicfail*, *epicpowerfail* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Images by Parker Warburton Team Architects

Hilary Calvert complaint to Auditor-General #DCHL

DCHL chairman Graham Crombie rejected Ms Calvert’s allegation of “misleading” councillors during a two-and-a-half-hour discussion on the controversial $13million Delta refinancing last year. (ODT)

### ODT Online: Thu, 2 Feb 2017
Allegation councillors were misled
By Simon Hartley
A complaint filed to the auditor-general by former Dunedin city councillor Hilary Calvert claims “misleading” information was presented to councillors over the contentious Yaldhurst property development in Christchurch. Council-owned Delta became enmeshed in Yaldhurst when it made incremental loans to the initial developer for its infrastructure work, to the tune of more than $13 million from 2009-13. Ms Calvert, a Dunedin lawyer, sent a copy of her complaint to the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
Ms Calvert said in the August meeting DCHL recommended to all councillors they accept the proposal to refinance Delta’s debt, with a new loan agreement with Infinity Group. However, Ms Calvert claims it was not a loan agreement directly with Infinity Group, a successful multimillion-dollar Wanaka company, but a new “shell company”, Yaldhurst Infinity Ltd. Ms Calvert contends it was “misleading” of DCHL to provide details of Infinity Group and its proven track record, in order to have the loan approved to Yaldhurst Infinity Ltd, “which would never have been worthy of lending $13.4 million to”.
Read more

A March 2014 auditor-general inquiry into Delta over Luggate and Jacks Point was highly critical, noting the use of “artificial business structures to avoid public accountability” and a “lack of strategic and performance monitoring” of investments, among other findings. (ODT)

Note: Hilary Calvert is not complaining about the Council meeting held on Monday, 1 August 2016. Her complaint is with the reports received in that meeting pertaining to the decision sought from Council by Dunedin City Holdings Ltd (DCHL).

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Email received:

Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2017 11:46:31 +1300
From: Hilary Calvert
To: Elizabeth Kerr

Media release below.
Other papers attached

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Dunedin City Council companies facing new accusation of misleading conduct  
 
Hilary Calvert, a former Dunedin City Councillor, has today forwarded a complaint to the Auditor General’s office concerning the wrong information provided by DCHL surrounding the loan of $13 million made by Delta Utility Services Ltd, to a company which purchased the failed Christchurch Yaldhurst development.
 
Ms Calvert complains that the information provided to the Dunedin City Council to encourage it to approve the loan included financial statements and benefits including that the proposed borrower ‘has an excellent track record’ and ‘already has a strong presence in Christchurch…’ whereas in reality the company which was to borrow the money turned out to be a newly formed company, likely formed with the specific intention of avoiding having the company with the ‘track record’ standing behind the debt.
 
‘There is something very wrong if the Audit Office were to think it OK for a Council owned company to get a Council to agree to a $13 million loan using the details of a reputable trading company in place of those of the insubstantial shell company which was actually borrowing the money.’ said Ms Calvert.
 
If such statements were in a prospectus, which is after all an invitation to the public to give over their money, there could well be implications of prison being bandied about. And Council money is public money, even if this report was not governed by the rules surrounding issuing a prospectus.
 
It was only by chance the Council meeting picked up from an aside that the loan would be to a new unproven company with no obvious assets.
 
When asked why the company described in the papers was not borrowing the money and doing the development themselves, The DCC was told that it was good practice to set up a different company. *
 
It may be good practice for a borrower to try it on, but it would not be good practice for a lender to accept. Any bank would demand a guarantee from the parent company, something which DCHL says is not in place with this loan.
 
To add insult to injury, DCHL is refusing to provide details of the loan under Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act so we still cannot know what deal has been actually made using Dunedin Ratepayers money.
 
The Audit Office is responsible for ensuring that public entities carry out their business with probity and financial prudence.
 
‘It is time to call enough for Council companies treating Council like mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed manure.” said Ms Calvert.
 
*In fact a similar manoeuvre happened with the same company, Infinity Investment Group Holdings Ltd, concerning the Pegasus development, where some $80 million was lost without IIGHL having to stand behind the company formed there either.
 
Hilary Calvert

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Attachments:
LGOIMA information release – DCHL to Council 1 August 2016
Request for examination 31.1.17

█ For more, enter the terms *dchl*, *crombie*, *grady*, *delta*, *infinity*, *yaldhurst*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

DCHL —Which ‘Infinity’ were Councillors sold on #funnybusiness

ODT 13.10.16 (page 12)

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The published reply has no direct bearing on Russell Garbutt’s enquiry.

● INFINITY YALDHURST LIMITED (5886102)
Incorporation Date: 09 Feb 2016
Address for service:
Jackson Valentine Limited, Level 3, 258 Stuart Street, Dunedin 9016
http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/5886102

● INFINITY INVESTMENT GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED (1004601)
Incorporation Date: 06 Dec 1999
Address for service:
Jackson Valentine Limited, Level 3, 258 Stuart Street, Dunedin 9016
http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/1004601

● INFINITY FINANCE AND MORTGAGE LIMITED (5920307)
Incorporation Date: 17 Mar 2016
Address for service:
Infinity Finance and Mortgage Limited, 12a Fovant Street, Russley, Christchurch 8042
http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/5920307

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Related Post and Comments:
22.9.16 DCC : Delta deal 1 Aug 2016 Council meeting (non-public) #LGOIMA

█ For more, enter the term *delta*, *dchl*, *infinity*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #14 : The Election and The End Game revisited

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Sun, 25 Sep 2016 at 11:15 p.m.

Firstly, Ratepayers have a debt (yes another one, readers, but put the cudgels away, it doesn’t involve money illegally advanced by Delta) to Vaughan Elder, Cr Hilary Calvert and our What if? site for prising the official information about the August 1 2016 Council Meeting from the DCC. After an extended delay, some records were produced, but “technical difficulties” meant a full audio transcript was not available. How surprising. This is the Council equivalent of “The dog ate my homework, sir”, with the same level of credibility. But of course Mayor Cull will be able to say that he really wanted the transcript because, of course, he is FOR openness and transparency in Council, for the next fortnight anyway —because in response to the latest poll or subtle expression of displeasure from the ODT publishers, Mayor Cull is now a “transparency magnet”, you see.

While it would have been useful to see if any Councillors expressed even the most cursory concern about the deal, before voting to give away $13.2M to a shell company on the most favourable terms in commercial history, the key point is that Cr Lee Vandervis is the only candidate standing who sounded the alarm. He abstained from even voting on the proposal because the information put before Councillors was so pathetically incomplete that to even vote on it was giving the “proposal” more credibility than it deserved.

Departing from Matters Noble for a moment, your correspondent had from afar noticed a very clear divide on ‘the sound’ between sitting and new council candidates. To a man (and one woman) the sitting Councillors all sing the same song : everything is fine, everything is under control at the hands of your capable (sitting) Councillors and if these “whingers” would stop the “negativity” then everything would move from fine to fantastic on the DCC rate-o-meter. With the notable exception of the sniping between Mr Whiley and Mr Hawkins, there is clearly a little gentlemen’s agreement amongst incumbents not to say hard but truthful things about each other so that normal sycophant operation can resume after the election.

However, the other 32 council candidates are also singing a song that is mostly in unison, and that is that the present Council have failed the city in ways too numerous to count. Their description of the overall Council performance ranges from the mediocre to the abysmal.

With six new positions, in a normal election a candidate could probably spout vague but reassuring platitudes and have a good chance of joining the club. But this is not a normal election and the vast majority of new candidates aren’t being shy about what needs to change. A change is coming.

The point of all this : Your correspondent says that this is no time for the safety first status quo and if the best candidates only include one (Cr Vandervis) or even two then that is just fine. Vote accordingly. Mr Vandervis as Mayor can always run night classes over the first month in how to chair a subcommittee.

Your correspondent has for some time flayed the vast majority of Councillors in many posts for being slack jawed bystanders on the whole disgusting Delta Noble mess. Those Councillors who acquiesced and made like Silent Bob – which is all of them, except Cr Vandervis, do not merit re-election on a number of levels. Most odiferous of all is Cr Doug Hall, who is very well versed in subdivisions, and would never in fifty lifetimes commit his own money to a deal like this, but who refused to say anything. Sayonara, Doug Silent Bob Hall !!

However, some information from a little bird….
has come to light regarding the non-public section of the fateful August 1 Council meeting. This, along with other information made public at What if?, now means we have an accurate idea of why this turnip of a Delta deal was fertilised into life. (Sorry Vaughan, bested you again, but keep up the good work !).

It was a case of turnip councillors also being fertilised with you know what, but it was also a case of DCHL and DCC bureaucratic fascism, which is even more alarming.

Apparently, a senior representative at the meeting (can’t name names) lectured the Councillors for about 30 minutes that this Infinity deal was The Way, The Truth and will give Life to the half of the $25M DCC debt that the DCC had not written off. To extend the biblical analogy further, however, it would not be three days before the debt was resurrected, but EIGHT YEARS. (Good work on that in Friday’s ODT, Vaughan !!). This is rather a long time to go without financial oxygen, otherwise known as payment of interest, but at Delta (now enabled by the DCC) the unthinkable (the illegal construction of entire subdivisions, being had up for constructive fraud) is now commonplace.

What if? is led to understand that Councillors were lectured like school children, and questions were Not Tolerated by the Irascible Headmaster. They were to vote on the One True Option, and That Would Be That, and if they did not vote for the One True Option, the buyer of the Noble Subdivision would be lost.

Readers may recall that your correspondent did predict that this is precisely what would happen, a certain corporate person would pronounce that There Is No Alternative, regardless of the truth, and much of the statements by the Irascible Headmaster (not to be confused with The Fat Controller) are not true.

A malodorous other person also enabled this fertilisation, as a parting gift to fellow “managers” – and I use the term loosely.

For major decisions, DCC staff are meant to prepare a range of options so Council can debate which is best. Either they weren’t bothered or came under instruction to prepare one option only by minders at DCHL. The Council should remember it is DCHL’s superior, and (theoretically….) DCC’s senior executives should be monitoring the Council holding company and subsidiaries. Old habits (like saying yes) are troublesome things that become reflex actions.

Humour aside, what happened on August 1 and immediately following is simply anti-democratic and makes Councillors redundant rubber stamps for DCC staff. The amazing thing is that only two of the 15 elected complained about this obvious and basic sidelining of Councillors.

But even at that point Ratepayers could have possibly accepted a lack of proper process had a good option been presented. But the “Delta Deal” isn’t a good option. This is the most commercially one-sided deal seen in decades, and the level of excuses made by Crs Thomson and Cull, Delta CEO Cameron, and most of all Mr Crombie, should give Ratepayers pause. They protesteth too much. The cover has been in full swing. “This is the best we can do”, “there are no guarantees”, “it will take years…. but builders are lining up to buy the sections”.

If The Fat Controller fitted one of his own conservative clients into this deal – a $13.2M second mortgage on a subdivision mired in legal action and half built illegally, at an interest rate of 7 per cent, he would doubtless be censured and taken to task by his professional body.

Something appears to be rotten in the State of Dunedin. Why is there indecent DCHL directorial haste to get this deal done ? Will Infinity Yaldhurst spend vast sums on marketing the sections via the ODT ? Will certain ex DCC operationals retire to Wanaka, coincidentally on an Infinity Subdivision ? Will Mr Crombie and Mr Frost become directors or shareholders of some Infinity venture, or their firms be remunerated in some generous way at Noble ?
Stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel !…..

There is a way to stop this rot, to stop the sale to Infinity and bring the entire subdivision back under the control of the DCC. Council was not able to vote on the actual terms and conditions of the disgraceful $13.2M second mortgage at the August 1 meeting. This will be done by the new Council after the election. The solution is obvious. Don’t give the money to Infinity and the whole deal will fall over, then the DCC can appoint its own development manager and sell down the sections that are ready now, and start selling the commercial land, which is the real cash cow of the deal. Without a doubt Council would recover all of the $25M debt, and get interest on it as well. This amount would pay a great proportion of the South Dunedin flood control work……

This is too hard for your turnip DCHL directors, and involves a serious loss of face, but who cares about them ? With the right development manager the DCC can do it in house. There is one man in Dunedin who is available at the end of the year and has the necessary integrity and expertise to do it, and his name is Geoff Plunket, soon to be former CEO of Port Otago and Chalmers Property.

[ends]

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Related Posts and Comments:
22.9.16 DCC : Delta deal 1 Aug 2016 Council meeting (non-public) #LGOIMA
18.9.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #13 : Councillors! How low can you Zhao ?
26.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —EpicFraud #12 : The Buyer Confirmed
24.8.16 Delta peripheral #EpicFail : Stonewood Homes —Boult under investigation
8.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #11 : The Buyer
1.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —The End Game according to CD
31.7.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #10 : The Beginning of the End : Grady Cameron and his Steam Shovel

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *infinity*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered ion the public interest.

*Images: Lee Vandervis billboard detail by whatifdunedin | The Fat Controller from Thomas the Tank Engine

DCC : Delta deal 1 Aug 2016 Council meeting (non-public) #LGOIMA

Updated post
Tue, 27 Sep 2016 at 7:08 p.m.

On 1 August 2016 I lodged an official information request with DCC to obtain documents and audio file for the non-public meeting of Council held that day to decide Delta’s deal with “Infinity” (later, properly referred to as Infinity Yaldhurst Ltd. NOTE: Not the company called Infinity Investment Group Holdings Ltd. The information request was made subject to an extension. (In particular for more context, see Delta posts at What if? Dunedin from 1 August onwards – to access these use the term *delta* in the search box at right).

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The information received from DCC is published here.

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Minutes of Council meeting August 1
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2016 21:26:24 +0000
From: DCC Governance Support
To: Elizabeth Kerr

Dear Elizabeth,

Further to Kristy’s response below, please find attached a copy of the minutes of the meeting. These are now confirmed as correct.

Regards
DCC Governance Support

Attachment: Minutes Council 010816

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: FW: Please check LGOIMA response on Delta PE documents and audio file
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2016 20:48:01 +0000
From: Kristy Rusher
To: Elizabeth Kerr

Hi,

In relation to your request for the information about the Council’s decision regarding the Delta & the Noble Subdivision, we now provide you with:

1. The audio recording and transcript of the non-public section of the 1 August council meeting where this transaction was considered. Please click on this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jcvhpn0w2a7v1n7/AADWTnaiJcP3R0YA-dZuuo1Ya?dl=0

2. A copy of reports presented as part of the non-public section of the August 1 council meeting where the Delta transaction was discussed.

3. The minutes of this part of the 1 August Council meeting are not yet included. That is because at yesterday’s meeting of the Council, an amendment was made to this section of the minutes. They will be provided to you in their amended form when the minutes of yesterday’s meeting become available.

The information you have requested is attached. Please note that due to the late conclusion of yesterday’s Council meeting we were unable to provide you with this response yesterday.

Audio Recording of Discussion at Council Meeting

There were some technical difficulties experienced with the recording of the meeting. Unfortunately this resulted in only the first part of the meeting up until the first adjournment being recorded. We have sought expert help to recover the rest of the recording but it is blank.

An independent party has also transcribed the audio file that is available and this transcript is attached. This provides details of each speaker and may help your listening of the file.

If you have any questions please contact me in the first instance.

Regards, Kristy

Attachments:
1. CNL20160801_1967_207_5.pdf
2. Transcript of Meeting 2016_08_01 np.pdf
3. Noble-Yaldhurst Village Update – 2016_08_01 final.pdf

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GO TO NEW POST
27.9.16 Has DCC Delta stupidly bought into another Pegasus . . . . #notquite

Why has our Dunedin City Council decided to have anything to do with Infinity via council owned company Delta ? Which Infinity ? Infinity Investment Group Holdings Ltd ? Infinity Yaldhurst Ltd ? And who is Infinity Finance and Mortgage Ltd, of a bedroom at 12A Fovant St, Russley ? Is ‘Infinity’ a front for Gordon Stewart’s Noble Investments Ltd ? We delve…. Meanwhile, here’s Infinity’s slow-troubled-road Pegasus. Cont/

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *infinity*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #13 : Councillors! How low can you Zhao ?

Updated, this post was originally published on 29 Aug 2016.

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Thu, 15 September 2016 at 6:53 p.m.

Readers

Recently some diligent whatiffers (thank-you Mick, Calvin), have provided some very pertinent information that puts your intemperate correspondent well ahead of the chasing pack that is national media.

Delta’s financial “breakthrough” at the Noble Subdivision got an airing on National Radio “news” late last month. Strangely, there was no mention of the buyers’ troubled history that checkmated $101M into the big depository in the sky. Fortunately, online media Stuff (26.8.16) has better quality reporting than our erstwhile public servants (well chaps, it was the weekend after all) and had this epic fail firmly in their sights. Vaughan Elder at the ODT (27.8.16) also stepped up to the plate, hammering home the $101M Infinity fail. “Efforts to contact Infinity Yaldhurst were unsuccessful,” said Vaughan [before ODT updated the article]. No prizes for why…..Go Vaughan you good thing !

Tonight, readers, over a cup of Bell or two (put that Twining’s rubbish away – we’re not in Fendalton now !)….. we shall look at a likely funder at Noble (at third mortgage level, no less), and in doing so we shall arrive at the quiet suburban destination of 12a Fovant St, Russley; the poor man’s Fendalton, if you will. Once again, truth trumps fiction, and from this secure and modest address it is quite probable the highly insecure and very immodestly sized Noble Subdivision will receive finance.

Firstly, readers, it is important to understand what your complete turnips of Councillors could not, and that is : it is the holder of the first mortgage that basically drives the train in any development. When things go bad – often – the developer gets told to go sit in the corner and play with some knives while the first mortgage owners decide what is best for them, and them alone, and the size of the haircut for everyone else. Delta have just found this out the expensive way to their approximate overall loss of $25M. Delta now wholeheartedly agree with this theory because they happily spent $3.39M of ratepayer funds to buy 67.5% of a $1.75M first mortgage, which was an illegal transaction at that. Mr Crombie and Mr Cameron say that interest doesn’t count ….Turnips that need to be culled, you say : I hear you!

But the problem with first mortgage holders is that they are very often banks that don’t have a large appetite for risk, and they hate “mezzanine financing” with all the conservative passion they can muster. Mezzanine funding is what they call funding projects during their construction. If things go wrong of course at the construction stage (consider Noble), there is only a half-finished at best project…. worth precisely nothing, which tends to play havoc with the banks’ precious LTV (loan-to-value) guidelines.

Readers will remember this was precisely the scenario at Noble where the mortgagee sale was marketed on the basis that it was bare land, ie the $11.5M of half-finished work by Delta was deemed to be worth nothing. So while Delta trumpet that there is a bank as a first mortgagee involved, your correspondent surmises that given the project’s radioactive history, it is a very small first mortgage, that is nowhere near big enough to finance the completion of even the first stage of the subdivision.

This leads us to some very interesting territory. How to fund the construction ? A smallish bank first mortgage, Delta as second mortgagee. Even Grady Cameron and possibly even Mr McLauchlan comprehend that they would be sacked if they advanced more public funds to Noble on a second mortgage basis. Could the purchaser, Infinity Yaldhurst Ltd fund it ? We do not know this, because of the commercial stupidity of most of your Councillors : we understand it was explained to them in words of almost one syllable at the Council meeting on 1 August that it was a VERY BAD THING to lend $13M-odd as a second mortgage, NOT KNOWING THE SPECIFICS OF THE OVERALL PROJECT FUNDING or the details of the “purchaser”, the shell company Infinity Yaldhurst, set up specifically for one project that has no assets and NO BACKING OR GUARANTEE from any other Infinity Group Company that managing director Paul Croft is involved in.

(Perhaps our walking photo opportunity that is the Mayor could advise us what sort of COLLATERAL SECURITY has been offered by Infinity Yaldhurst).

What is an impecunious property developer to do ? Readers, allow me to introduce to you…. Infinity Finance and Mortgage Ltd. This interestingly named company was incorporated on 17 March 2016. Your correspondent thinks that it provides a clue as to how the Noble Subdivision may be financed. Its sole director and shareholder is a fellow named Xiangqing ZHAO aka Xiang Qing ZHAO. The registered office of this apparent titan of finance is at 12a Fovant St, Russley, Christchurch. This is just a little more than a stone’s throw from the Noble Subdivision.

[click to enlarge]

A quick peep at Google Street View shows that Fovant St is a street of well tended and modest homes. There is not a single commercial premises evident. Now 12a (with a little pool in the backyard) is not actually visible from the street, being blocked by a quite nicely proportioned brick and tile bungalow from early 1970s, approximate value $590,000.

12a Fovant Street, Russley [Google Earth]

Mr Zhao’s previous commercial activities are also, ahem, somewhat idiosyncratic. Mr Zhao’s visible means of support includes his being the Shareholder of a pizza company, “X Pizza Ltd” and a company called “A-Team Company”.

So there is a suspicion that Dunedin City Councillors voted, at their meeting on 1 August, to lend $13M to a shell company, Infinity Yaldhurst, that may be receiving some form of finance from a company effectively controlled by an Asian, with a predilection for pizza, operating property investment companies and a finance company out of his bedroom – safely out of sight, down a driveway on a back section in Russley. It would be impossible to make this up. Gold Band at least had premises and statutory reporting requirements that it fulfilled. With Mr Zhao there is the very strong suspicion there will be a wall of opacity when things turn bad, and 12a will be sublet to Irish construction workers who have never heard of Mr Zhao and don’t know who receives their rent.

It is very significant our mendacious minders at Delta did not make any reference to precisely how the project would be funded on their breathless press release (26.8.16). Readers and ratepayers should be prepared for the fantastic fact that the Noble Subdivision is so troubled and radioactive it requires a THIRD mortgage (ie after the Bank, and after Delta) from an Asian “bedroom funder” several steps below a Microfinance company. Good grief, what next – crowd funding ?

One cannot escape the thought that perhaps the money that may be advanced does not belong to Mr Zhao, but he has some access to funds from Asia. We do know that a tsunami of cash from China in the last 12-18 months has washed through Australia, in particular the Gold Coast, and that cash has purchased an amazing amount of property there. It would be entirely unsurprising if Asian interests looked at this as a no-lose situation to park some funds. Plan A : Lend money to Infinity Yaldhurst at 25% plus (remember Delta were or are getting 22.5%). Plan B : If the project tips up yet again, buy out the first and second mortgage holders for about $16-20M, and create Christchurch’s first gated community dedicated to Asian peoples. Many of the sections are only 125 sq m, which would suit Asian immigrants, more than local residents.

The question readers, is how low – how low can our turnip Councillors Zhao ?

[ends]

● INFINITY YALDHURST LIMITED (5886102)
Incorporation Date: 09 Feb 2016
Address for service:
Jackson Valentine Limited, Level 3, 258 Stuart Street, Dunedin 9016
http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/5886102

● INFINITY INVESTMENT GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED (1004601)
Incorporation Date: 06 Dec 1999
Address for service:
Jackson Valentine Limited, Level 3, 258 Stuart Street, Dunedin 9016
http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/1004601

● INFINITY FINANCE AND MORTGAGE LIMITED (5920307)
Incorporation Date: 17 Mar 2016
Address for service:
Infinity Finance and Mortgage Limited, 12a Fovant Street, Russley, Christchurch 8042
http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/5920307

—

Related Posts and Comments:
26.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —EpicFraud #12 : The Buyer Confirmed
24.8.16 Delta peripheral #EpicFail : Stonewood Homes —Boult under investigation
8.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #11 : The Buyer
1.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —The End Game according to CD
31.7.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #10 : The Beginning of the End : Grady Cameron and his Steam Shovel

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered ion the public interest.

*Images: 123rf.com – Fatty Cull using Hula Hoop, tweaked by whatifdunedin | Noble Subdivision close proximity to 12a Fovant St [Mick Field overlay]

Kaipara rates row : High Court finds “serious and substantial” errors

“If the council had just accepted the money, admitted that the people withholding their rates were wronged, that their case had merit, we could have all moved forward together” – Mangawhai ratepayer Bruce Rogan
(via Checkpoint) Audio | Download: MP3 (3′04″)

### radionz.co.nz 6:01 pm on 16 Sep 2016
New Zealand: Northland
Northland rates rebels win partial victory
By Lois Williams – Northland reporter
The rebel ratepayers of Mangawhai in Northland have won a partial victory in the High Court. The court has found that rates levied from 2011 to 2014 by the Northland Regional Council, via Kaipara District Council rate demands, were unlawful. In an interim decision, Justice Duffy found the Northland Regional Council (NRC) has no power to delegate the assessment of rates or the recovery of arrears to other councils. “The errors I have identified are serious and substantial,” the judge said. “In short, the NRC has failed to exercise its statutory powers properly when determining rates resolutions and it has unlawfully sought to delegate the performance of a number of its functions in relation to rates to the Kaipara District Council.” […] The Mangawhai ratepayers’ chair, Bruce Rogan, said the ruling was very welcome, although the court did not uphold the group’s challenge to penalties and GST imposed by the Kaipara District Council. The council should now agree to negotiate a deal to end the six-year-old Kaipara rates row, Mr Rogan said.
Read more

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From Kaipara Concerns (community website):

INTERIM HIGH COURT JUDGMENT RELEASED 16.09.2016
Duffy J has made an interim judgment in respect of the judicial review brought by the MRRA and Bruce and Heather Rogan challenging the lawfulness of rates set by the NRC and the KDC.

She has made the following decisions:

NRC
1. The NRC rates were not set lawfully for the 2011/2012, 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 rating years. [27]
2. The NRC’s delegation to the KDC of the assessment of rates and recovery of rates for the rating years between 2011/2012 and 2015/2016 inclusive was unlawful. Accordingly those rates were not lawfully assessed. [58]
3. The NRC’s delegation to the KDC to add penalties to NRC rates was unlawful. Therefore the penalties imposed on rates in respect of NRC rates was unlawful. [74]
4. The Validation Act only validated the unlawful rates of the KDC. It did not validate the unlawful rates of the NRC. [111]

Result
[129] I make the following declaration: The NRC’s rates for the KDC region have not been lawfully set or assessed for the rating years from 2011/2012 to 2015/2016 inclusive.

Duffy J has not yet decided what order to make in respect of ordering the NRC to refund the unlawful rates charged. She has invited the NRC to make further submissions and especially to examine how this ruling might affect the legality of the rates that it has set for its other constituent areas – Whangarei and the Far North. Those rates might also be unlawful.

She will make her final decision once both parties have made further submissions.
Read more

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New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has issued a press release in respect of the Duffy J’s High Court decision:

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Related Posts and Comments:
31.3.16 Ratepayers achieve for Kaipara District —what Dunedin counterparts…
3.10.15 Kaipara Concerns —ADOTROL* disease [Dunedin mention, again!]
13.2.15 Associate Minister of Local Government: Return democracy to Kaipara
2.2.15 LGNZ run by Mad Rooster Yule, end of story
27.11.14 Auditor-general Lyn Provost #Resign
31.10.14 Whaleoil on “dodgy ratbag local body politicians” —just like ours at DCC
9.9.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara: Latest news + Winston Peter’s speech
19.7.14 Whaleoil / Cameron Slater on ratepayers’ lament
29.5.14 Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Assn wins at High Court
31.3.14 Audit services to (paying) local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ ● OAG…
29.1.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara —we hear ya!
3.12.13 LGNZ: OAG report on Kaipara
12.11.13 Northland council amalgamation
29.6.13 Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!
21.4.13 Councils “in stchook” —finance & policy analyst Larry.N.Mitchell
19.3.12 Local government reform
21.2.12 Kaipara this time

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta Yaldhurst : Local Opinion + Update from Caveators via NBR

ODT 1.9.16

*Name correction: Graham Crombie.

Mr Crombie is the chairman of Dunedin City Holdings Ltd (DCHL). Grady Cameron is Delta’s chief executive. -Eds

****

Sally Lindsay writes on the Delta fiasco at NBR today: ‘Christchurch development still entangled in litigation despite sale’ (pages 3 & 7).

“The sale is not deterring neighbours Colin Stokes and Gregory Smith from court action and Mr Stokes says Delta and Gold Band Finance have been joined to the proceedings originally launched against developer Noble Investments over a breach of contract. […] The litigants are claiming the value of 13 sections on their land had it been able to be subdivided. Mr Stokes says the sections would be conservatively valued at $200,000 each and the [action] also includes a claim for damages because of the holdups to their project, which they expected to launch in 2008. […] Mr Stokes is expecting the court case to be heard within the next year.”

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta #EpicFail —EpicFraud #12 : The Buyer Confirmed

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Fri, 26 Aug 2016 at 9:47 p.m.

Readers, you must allow your correspondent some iced cupcakes with his Choysa tonight, go on then, the ones with the cherry on top….your correspondent, with a modicum of luck was in fact 100% successful in the dire prediction that Infinity, of Wanaka, are indeed the purchasers of the Noble Subdivision. Our friends at Delta have issued a breathless press release explaining they are or have received $0.9m – yes $0.9M, from their friends at Infinity. The sky is blue, houses will be built, Delta’s financial fruit will follow. Fancy that !! Let us allow reality to intrude : This is the first, and only guaranteed payment that Delta will receive for the outstanding $25M+ debt they have incurred there. That’s not low hanging fruit, it’s been trampled underfoot and is not even worth stewing (over). Trampled underfoot also is the small matter of the outstanding interest. Would it be churlish to remind readers that Delta, of course, has written off about $12M in interest because it wanted to protect certain reputations more than it wanted to protect ratepayers ? Would it spoil Delta’s collective fist pump to remind them that $0.9M is no more than (and likely less than) 4% of the outstanding debt ? Yes I thought so. Delta as debt collectors ? = EpicFail.

Missing in Delta’s gushing remarks from Grady Cameron was any mention of the Constructive Fraud action. It seems that the hapless Mr Smillie has taken Delta down a dark cul-de-sac yet again this week. Mr Smillie has opposed Delta being joined to the constructive fraud action, with a mistaken understanding of High Court rule 4.56. However, that rule is not relevant and it is trumped by High Court Rules 4.1 and 4.3 which allow parties to be joined. Basically, the rules allow that a plaintiff can joinder anyone at any time, and the plaintiff caveator in this action is 100% unlikely to allow the central party to the constructive fraud action (yes, that is you Grady as CEO of Delta) to smile bashfully and say “can I go now?” after having undermined the interests of the neighbours on occasions too numerous to count at this point. Oh well Mr Smillie, another unpaid legal bill….

This is an important point because our Delta friends seem oblivious to the impending legal actions they are facing. Delta think that because the caveats were lifted, all is well, but that is still subject to a court of appeal hearing, and the way is open now for Delta to have another action brought against them by the neighbours. Delta and the DCC’s pockets are deeper than Gold Band’s, and they can’t go broke, so from the neighbours’ view, what’s not to like ?

Delta’s utter stupidity is revealed when the press release acknowledges that they have allowed a bank lender to take the first mortgage over the property, and have put themselves, yet again in the same weak position. As noted in the Delta —EpicFraud #10 post, Dunedin City Council just needed to show a scrap of acumen and take control of the subdivision. Now their fortunes are tied to an even weaker developer than Noble (how is that possible ?), who has managed to lose, much, much more money than Noble (truth stranger than fiction), and to cap it off, are in the same second mortgage position. This is not logical. But it is a windfall – for Infinity. Could there be a quid pro quo somewhere ?

Turnips all round. Readers, consider when voting, that Cr Lee Vandervis is the only surviving councillor (there were only ever two, Hilary RIP from Council) who grasps this major issue and has fought for the ratepayers. Cr Vandervis has never been one to accept Mr Crombie’s vague platitudes and was always wary of Mr McKenzie. Vandervis for Mayor.

[ends]

—

From: Gary Johnson [Gary.Johnson @thinkdelta.co.nz]
Sent: Fri, 26 Aug 2016 at 4:21 p.m.

Message: Please find media release attached regarding a breakthrough on recovery of outstanding debt owed to Delta in relation to the Yaldhurst Village subdivision.

█ 160826 Media Statement_Breakthrough on Yaldhurst subdivision debt recovery

—

“With a new developer, new financing and removal of the caveats, the way is now clear for the Yaldhurst Village subdivision to restart….” Mr Grady (sic) said. –emphasis by whatifdunedin

### ODT Online Fri, 26 Aug 2016
Delta sells Christchurch subdivision
By Vaughan Elder
Delta has hailed the sale of a controversial Christchurch subdivision as a breakthrough in its efforts to recover $13.4 million in bad debt. The Dunedin City Council owned infrastructure company yesterday announced Wanaka-based developers Infinity Group purchased the Yaldhurst Village subdivision. […] The purchase means Delta has entered a new loan agreement with Infinity Yaldhurst Limited, to replace the existing $13.4 million debt owed to Delta by the original developer.
Read more [See tomorrow’s ODT]

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● INFINITY YALDHURST LIMITED (5886102)
Incorporation Date: 09 Feb 2016
Address for service:
Jackson Valentine Limited, Level 3, 258 Stuart Street, Dunedin 9016
http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/5886102

Ultimate holding company :
● INFINITY INVESTMENT GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED (1004601)
Incorporation Date: 06 Dec 1999
Address for service:
Jackson Valentine Limited, Level 3, 258 Stuart Street, Dunedin 9016
http://www.companies.govt.nz/co/1004601

—

Related Posts and Comments:
8.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #11 : The Buyer
1.8.16 Delta #EpicFail —The End Game according to CD
31.7.16 Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #10 : The Beginning of the End : Grady Cameron and his Steam Shovel

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta peripheral #EpicFail : Stonewood Homes —Boult under investigation

Stonewood Homes New Zealand Ltd was placed in receivership on February 22, 2016, owing unsecured creditors $15M.

### ODT Online Tue, 23 Aug 2016
Investigation of mayoral candidate
By Mark Price
Queenstown mayoral candidate Jim Boult is to be investigated in relation to the collapse of Stonewood Homes New Zealand Ltd, something Mr Boult says he welcomes. Ernst and Young liquidator Rhys Cain said yesterday an investigation into the failed company would begin “in the next few days”. It would examine the workings of the company during the two years before its collapse, with a “specific focus” on its final six months. […] Mr Boult was a member of the board of the Christchurch building company for about a year and acted as executive chairman for a period. He stood down from the board on February 1, 2016, telling Mountain Scene later he had done so because he had been part of an attempt to buy Stonewood before receivers were called in and he considered he had a conflict of interest. […] Asked if he could rule out action against Mr Boult, Mr Cain said: “No”.
Read more

—

Related Post and Comments:
11.3.16 Delta peripheral #EpicFail : Stonewood Homes and ancient Delta history

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: stuff.co.nz – Jim Boult by Stacy Squires

Mayor Cull IS NOT YOUR MAN #elections #steamingheaps : DCC, Delta, Aurora, DCHL, DCTL

ODT 19.8.16 (page 10)
– purple text overlay by whatifdunedin

—

### ODT Online Fri, 12 Aug 2016
‘Dangerous mess’ addressed, remedied after 2011 review
By Dave Cull
OPINION Claims that council-owned companies are out of control and lack transparency (ODT, 5.8.16 and the editorial 6.8.16) are sadly ill-informed, lack business understanding and worse, threaten the ratepayers’ asset value. […] Ratepayer-owned companies are more expertly governed and more comprehensively examined and reported on than ever before.
Read more

E X P E R T L Y ● G O V E R N E D

M O R E ● C O M P R E H E N S I V E L Y ● E X A M I N E D

E N T I R E L Y ● L A U G H A B L E

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Related Post and Comments:
● 12.8.16 DCC trifecta : openness, transparency, accountability —All dead?

R E P E A T ● R E P E A T

█ Delta Utility Services Ltd (“Delta”) has been joined in a constructive fraud action brought by original Landowners/Caveators of the Noble Subdivision application at Yaldhurst, Christchurch.

Very substantial multimillion-dollar losses caused to Dunedin Ratepayers (on Mayor Cull’s shift) stem from Delta’s decision in 2009 to involve themselves in the illegal and unconsented subdivision. This all follows multimillion-dollar losses (about $14M) suffered by Ratepayers as a consequence of Delta’s involvement in the Luggate and Jacks Point subdivisions.

On Monday 1 August, we had absolute Confirmation that the city council is Not transparent —the Council blindly followed (without proper or worthy documentation; no diligence done by Councillors; no thoroughly independent legal advice to Council) the manipulations of Mr Crombie, DCHL chairman, assisted by the head of DCC Finance Committee, Cr Thomson, threading a ‘long’ story to seal a bad ‘Delta’ deal.

ODT reported (3.8.16): ‘Deal designed to help Delta’s bad debt woes’. This deal, “to help Delta recover a $13.4million bad debt from a stalled Christchurch subdivision”, unfortunately, fails to give DCC control over the whole Noble subdivision, which DCC could have secured for relatively little financial outlay (as Advised by What if? Dunedin in emails to all Councillors; and of course by the Caveators), resulting in generous profits in a longer time frame.

So the Old Boys have conspired once more to use Rates funds to line the pockets of those they would work with and protect, this time at Yaldhurst —Not named by DCHL/Delta : The Buyer of the subdivision. [which may include Delta types]

The ODT editorial (6.8.16) rightly states: “Delta has a history of secrecy and limited transparency, stretching back many years to the time it was a council department.”

As our correspondent Christchurch Driver says in a recent post (8.8.16): “Delta, for the third time, [has] created a stinking financial mess … Ratepayers now know that [Dave Cull] is unfit to be Mayor and has not a shred of any concern for the interests of Ratepayers but is simply part of the Dunedin establishment who protect each other.”

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: Dave Cull tweaked by whatifdunedin

ORC : Official complaints show integrity

### ODT Online Mon, 15 Aug 2016
Two complaints laid against ORC
By Simon Hartley
Complaints against the Otago Regional Council have been laid by Cr Gerry Eckhoff with the Ombudsman and also the Office of the Auditor-general over exclusion of the public from a recent meeting. A decision was publicly released by the regional council late on Friday, from an in-committee, meaning non-public, non-media meeting on Wednesday, which the ORC yesterday defended on the basis the decision could be appealed.

The regional councillors voted in favour of accepting commissioners’ recommendation that a minimum water flow be set for the Lindis River catchment in Central Otago.

Mr Eckhoff released a statement yesterday outlining his complaints, and in an interview said not having the issue aired in public revealed a “grossly inappropriate process”. […] Council staff made the recommendation to hear the Lindis matter in public exclusion after seeking legal advice on matters where a decision by the council is open to an appeal in a court or tribunal, [ORC chief executive Peter Bodeker] said.
Read more

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█ ORC : Combined Council Agenda 10 August – Public.pdf

Go to PART D – EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC
See Item 14 Recommendations of the Hearing Committee on the Proposed Plan Change 5A (Lindis: Integrated water management) to the Regional Plan: Water for Otago.
In relation to item 14, this resolution is made in reliance of section 48(1)(d) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

█ Otago Regional Council http://www.orc.govt.nz/

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

DCC trifecta : openness, transparency, accountability —All dead?

—

Three words : O U T ● O F ● T I M E

### ODT Online Friday, 12 August 2016
DCC affirms transparency commitment
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council says it remains committed to transparency, despite a nearly year-long delay responding to an official information request. […] The comment came after council staff last week again delayed their response to an Otago Daily Times request for information relating to the former Carisbrook site. The ODT’s request dated back to September last year, and the council — like other local authorities — is required by law to respond as soon as possible within 20 working days. […] Last week, six weeks after the ODT again requested an update, council staff initially said no further action had been taken, and would not be taken now until after October’s elections.
Read more

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One word : T I M E L Y

### ODT Online Fri, 12 Aug 2016
Departure reshuffle
The departure of the Dunedin City Council’s group chief financial officer, Grant McKenzie, has triggered a minor reshuffle within the organisation. […] Council financial controller Gavin Logie has … been named acting chief financial officer until Mr McKenzie’s replacement is named.
Read more

—

Three words : D E L T A ● A U R O R A ● D C H L

### ODT Online Fri, 12 Aug 2016
‘Dangerous mess’ addressed, remedied after 2011 review
By Dave Cull
OPINION Claims that council-owned companies are out of control and lack transparency (ODT, 5.8.16 and the editorial 6.8.16) are sadly ill-informed, lack business understanding and worse, threaten the ratepayers’ asset value. […] Ratepayer-owned companies are more expertly governed and more comprehensively examined and reported on than ever before.
Read more

*Delta Utility Services Ltd (“Delta”) has been joined in a constructive fraud action brought by original Landowners/Caveators of the Noble Subdivision application at Yaldhurst, Christchurch. Very substantial multimillion-dollar losses caused to Dunedin Ratepayers (on Mayor Cull’s shift) stem from Delta’s decision in 2009 to involve themselves in the illegal and unconsented subdivision. This all follows multimillion-dollar losses (about $14M) suffered by Ratepayers as a consequence of Delta’s involvement in the Luggate and Jacks Point subdivisions.

We know what ‘out of control’ means.

On Monday 1 August, we had absolute Confirmation that the city council is Not transparent —the Council blindly followed (without proper or worthy documentation; no diligence done by Councillors; no thoroughly independent legal advice to Council) the manipulations of Mr Crombie, DCHL chairman, assisted by the head of DCC Finance Committee, Cr Thomson, threading a ‘long’ story to seal a bad ‘Delta’ deal.

Bad for the Ratepayers.

ODT reported (3.8.16): ‘Deal designed to help Delta’s bad debt woes’. This deal, “to help Delta recover a $13.4million bad debt from a stalled Christchurch subdivision”, unfortunately, fails to give DCC control over the whole Noble subdivision, which DCC could have secured for relatively little financial outlay (as Advised by What if? Dunedin in emails to all Councillors; and by the Caveators), resulting in generous profits in a longer time frame.

So the Old Boys have conspired once more to use Rates funds to line the pockets of those they would work with and protect, this time at Yaldhurst —Not named by DCHL/Delta : The Buyer of the subdivision. [which may include Delta types]

As the ODT editorial (6.8.16) rightly states: “Delta has a history of secrecy and limited transparency, stretching back many years to the time it was a council department.”

We’re sure the Mayor and Cr Thomson are well up on that particular reading, in the privacy of their gentlemen’s armchairs.

As our correspondent Christchurch Driver says in a recent post (8.8.16): “Delta, for the third time, [has] created a stinking financial mess … Ratepayers now know that [Dave Cull] is unfit to be Mayor and has not a shred of any concern for the interests of Ratepayers but is simply part of the Dunedin establishment who protect each other.”

Nothing changes at DCC, DCHL or Delta (except overt culpability!) —shortly, What if? Dunedin will deal to Aurora Energy, which has the same Chief Executive and Board of Directors as Delta.

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: Dave Cull tweaked by whatifdunedin

Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #11 : The Buyer

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Sun, 7 Aug 2016 at 11:08 p.m.

Your correspondent was heartened to read Saturday’s ODT editorial. It was mostly on the money, apart from the fabrication that Delta pays a dividend most years, when it is well known that for many years it borrowed to provide dividends, and it will not pay a dividend for the next three years.

[screenshot]

In its diplomatic way, the editorial conveyed the (accurate) impression that

A)
Mayor Cull is a either a devious and unfaithful turnip or he is a blundering nincompoop. Given his disgusting complicity with DCHL Chair Crombie, last week, making simply absurd and risible statements as to why Delta CEO Cameron did not need to appear at the Council meeting and explain to Council how Delta, for the third time, had created a stinking financial mess, and done so under his approval to proceed at Noble in 2009, to build an illegal and unconsented subdivision. All Mayor Cull had to do to show some integrity and leadership was to insist to Delta and DCHL that Mr Cameron appear as per Councillors Vandervis and Calvert’s request. Ratepayers now know that he is unfit to be Mayor and has not a shred of any concern for the interests of Ratepayers but is simply part of the Dunedin establishment who protect each other. It is clear a great many Ratepayers have already come to this conclusion : As part of his mayoral campaign, Mayor Cull’s Facebook page invited feedback in recent weeks and it was so overwhelmed by negative and derisive comments – that he could not refute – that he simply stopped attempting to respond after two attempts. Readers should find the site – it may well have been taken down after the avalanche of negative feedback – and make THEIR views of Mr Cull known.

B)
Named and shamed the four Delta Directors, Frow, McLauchlan, Kempton and Parton, and that they contributed to the history of “secrecy and limited transparency” of Delta, a culture that “continues to envelope a company which is effectively owned by ratepayers”. ODT readers did not have to join too many dots to see that the ODT is saying that these directors are not fit to be directors of a Ratepayer owned company and need to be sacked. This is very strong (and welcomed) from the ODT.
We should consider the curious case of Mr McLauchlan, who has had his nose in the Delta trough since 2007 : It was around that time that Mr McLauchlan gave accounting evidence to the High Court for Scenic Circle in a dispute, reported in the ODT, with the co-owner over the then –new Scenic Circle Dunedin City Hotel. Mr McLauchlan, as seems to be the pattern with Delta, tried to tell the Court that black was white, that effectively, debits were credits and vice versa. Unfortunately for Mr McLauchlan, the opposing side had a much more credible accounting witness, whose evidence was the complete opposite of Mr McLauchlan’s. Needless to say the Court much preferred the evidence of the opposing side, so it is a statement of fact that the Courts have found Mr McLauchlan to be an unreliable witness. One wonders if Delta knew this when they appointed him, or if it was part of the job description….

And then there was the other curious case of Mr McLauchlan’s short tenure as the “Crown Monitor” for the SDHB, where an outgoing board member publicly questioned if he had any utility at all, and what did he actually do for the approximate $30,000 a year he received for acting as the Crown Monitor. Mr McLauchlan then confirmed to the ODT he hadn’t actually done anything as Crown Monitor except attend the board meetings and make some phone calls to Wellington. He had not written any reports – at all.

C)
The ODT did not dwell on CEO Grady Cameron. Your correspondent was wrong in his last post – Mr Cameron was not left to sweat it out in front of Council, but probably had so much dirt on the Directors and DCHL that they could not risk him appearing, and they conspired to put Mr Crombie in front of Council.

However, the true dirt tonight is the identity of ‘The Buyer'(?) of the Noble Subdivision : (ODT – feel free to pick this up and make any inquiry you want). It is of course truly unbelievable that Council would approve a loan of $13.4M to a buyer that they do not know, which shows that a wholesale cleanout of Councillors is necessary. More on that later. However, Councillors are not going to want to know the identity of the Buyer because they make the dismal NIL (Noble Investments Ltd), Tom Kain, Gordon Stewart, et al look like paragons of commercial acumen.

Your correspondent’s information is that the Buyer may be or very well includes Infinity (of Wanaka). A caveat, readers : We seek through the glass, darkly, and are not privy to the full machinations of Mr Crombie and his cronies. It will not be certain until this is confirmed publicly, but we do know that Delta, via Mr Murray Frost, have been working on this “arrangement” for months. Perhaps the ODT might like to make inquiries of Mr Paul Croft, General Manager and CFO of Infinity Investment Group Holdings….
Now at one level Infinity and Delta are birds of a very, very similar feather, and it is clear why they would seek to stick together : Like Delta, this will be Infinity’s third attempt at a Canterbury subdivision. Like Delta, the other two have been failures. Readers, hold those cups of Tiger Tea tight…. Infinity’s abysmal financial performance on those projects makes Delta look like seasoned and competent professionals !!!

The amazing truth that is stranger than fiction : Infinity have lost MUCH MUCH MORE than Delta on their two failed Canterbury projects…… IN EXCESS OF $100M. I can hear the teacups rattling now, readers, “Prove it CD, prove it !!” Elementary, my dear readers : Here is the link to the Stuff.co.nz story that appeared last year. It takes a special effort to lose $100M on one deal, but Infinity pulled it off. Perhaps Delta’s Mr Cameron and CFO Dixon, having had their subdivision trainer wheels on since 2009, are ready to move up to the big leagues at Infinity and lose serious amounts of someone else’s money.

It beggars belief that Mr Frost, who has been acting for Delta (but mostly Noble, it appears), would actively court Infinity as the Buyer, and place at risk $13.4M of Dunedin Ratepayers’ money with a company with this recent history; when there was a far safer option of Dunedin City Council taking control of the project, perhaps in concert with a developer that HAD NOT lost $100M on the same sort of project. Let us not forget either, the other $12M that Mr Crombie has “given up on” reported by the ODT last week, as though it were a trifle as light as air. If it were your money, Mr Crombie, I don’t think you would be quite so cavalier.
Readers should remember that essentially the deal is that the Buyer (Infinity ?) will pay around $2.7M to Gold Band Finance, and $1M to Delta (probably for consultant and court costs !) and NO OTHER MONEY CHANGES HANDS. If that is the best that Delta / Gold Band could do I will eat my tea cosy.
Bottom line : This deal smacks of cronyism.

And here is the interesting part : Murray Frost, Graham Crombie and Stuart McLauchlan are all well known to each other. We hope that there will be assurances that there will be NO INVOLVEMENT or REMUNERATION either directly or indirectly to these three, or any other Delta or DCHL personnel, on the Noble Subdivision.

Mr Crombie – as someone allegedly with an IQ greater than room temperature – how could you think this deal passes the smell test for a Ratepayer owned company ? What if? understands you conspired to conceal key information about this deal from Councillors. As the ODT infers, you are a pathetic guardian for the Ratepayers’ interests and you need to conduct that cost/benefit analysis we advised you to do months ago, and prepare the resignation letter – before a new mayor orders a “review” of the DCHL structure, which as we all know is code for : “Get rid of those incompetents, ASAP”.

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: Screenshot of ODT Online (detail) tweaked by whatifdunedin

LGOIMA requests to DCC from Colin Stokes #Delta #Noble #Yaldhurst

Received from Colin Stokes
Wed, 3 Aug 2016 at 12:30 p.m.

These emails are being circulated to national broadcast and print media today.

—

Colin Stokes, caveator and plaintiff, is one of the original landowners of the Noble Subdivision application (Yaldhurst, Christchurch).

In short, Delta, with its controlling interest at Noble, has joined with other parties, in the ongoing repeated attempt to defeat the known prior interests of Mr Stokes, Greg Smith, and others.

Those parties with Delta appear to have connived to form a new consortium to purchase and control the development, with ongoing cheap money from Dunedin Ratepayers to prop up their own private fortunes.

Life has never been so good for Mr Crombie, does he work for the likes of Justin Prain, Gordon Stewart, Murray Valentine, Murray Frost, Paul Croft
—Or us, poor little us who bleed.
Rhetorical.

Noble is like Sticky Pudding for fatsos.

Here are some straight shooting questions in public domain —for Transparency, that old so OLD concept not known to DCHL / Delta and the Noble / Gold Band bandits.

—

[Updated LGOIMA request]

From: Colin Stokes
Sent: Wednesday, 3 August 2016 12:27 p.m.
To: Sue Bidrose [DCC]
Subject: RE: LGOIMA: Noble Yaldhurst Subdivision Christchurch Delta DCC

Dear Dr Bidrose

Could I please amend my LGOIMA question number 4 below?

It was both Noble and Gold Band that enticed Delta to provide infrastructure and services at Delta’s cost on the promises of “agreements to have first-ranking first mortgages registered over the land.

Noble owned the land (it having been transferred to Noble by the neighbours for promises alone), and Gold Band held the thinly spread first mortgage over all 9 titles.
The enticement (recorded in their security sharing agreements):-
a. Noble agreed to give Delta “first-ranking first mortgages over the land” if Delta did the works at Dunedin ratepayers expense;
b. Gold Band agreed to swap priority of its first mortgage in favour of Delta over certain Lots if Delta did the works at Dunedin ratepayers expense;

c. Noble then reneged on providing the interests protected by the caveats that prevent Delta’s agreements to mortgage from being registered.
d. Gold Band (and Noble) (and with Deltas insistence apparently) then, under the guise of Gold Bands power of first mortgagee (despite its only 32.5% ownership of it), ran a mortgagee sale tender that lapsed Delta’s caveats protecting their agreements to mortgage used to entice the works.
✔ Subordinate caveats, behind Deltas caveats, that protect the interests of [parties] associated with Nobles did not lapse in the tender documents; such as Southpac which is controlled by Nobles sole director Gordon Ralph Stewart.

So question 4 should correctly read:-

4 updated.
the total sum of “agreements to mortgage” given by Noble Investments Ltd (NIL) and Gold Band Finance Ltd to Delta to entice Delta to do work for them at Dunedin ratepayers costs?

Thanks and regards
Colin

[original LGOIMA request]

From: Colin Stokes [mailto:stokesy@xtra.co.nz]
Sent: Tuesday, 2 August 2016 11:07 p.m.
To: ‘Sue Bidrose’
Subject: LGOIMA: Noble Yaldhurst Subdivision Christchurch Delta DCC

Chief Executive Officer
Dr Sue Bidrose
Dunedin City Council (DCC)

LGOIMA: Noble Yaldhurst Subdivision Christchurch Delta DCC

I am one of dozens of resident owners in the above subdivision. We have prior interests from 2002 in the land that Delta has mortgages and shared mortgages and agreements to mortgages on.

I am also one of the residents that lodged caveats to protect these interests. I gave my caveators’ consent required of Delta to register its mortgage on the land. The consent was given on the clear condition and acceptance that the work Delta was securing with the mortgage included for the interests that the mortgagor/developer Noble owed us. Noble and Delta both agreed.

However we later discovered Noble and Delta had already designed a plan before they approached us whereby Delta was given the power (illegally under the Property Law Act) to instruct the first mortgagee Gold Band to do as Delta instructed in relation to defeating our caveats.

Noble and Delta then jointly constructed the works not including our provisions as agreed and making them impossible.

Delta later bought a 67.5% share of Gold Bands first mortgage (this too is illegal under the Property Law Act s84 – partial assignments are not permitted)

Delta then used Gold Band as planned to use their first mortgage position in Court to defeat our caveats to recover Delta’s subordinate debts.

We tried to redeem Gold Band and Delta’s shared first mortgage in 2014 but they refused us (we later found out that this was illegal under the Property Law Act as well – s102). We tried again recently but they illegally demanded double what it is worth and wouldn’t answer our request for information that we require to legitimately redeem it.

I understand they now propose to sell the land by way of mortgagee sale to defeat our caveat protection, despite that it’s illegal to do so given our prior interests and two refused requests to redeem the first mortgage.

I also understand from media statements and statements made in public Council meeting, that Delta are seeking to write off millions of dollars of debt in the subdivision ($25m debt due in Feb 2016) and are now only “chasing $13.3m”.

I have information that Noble gave Delta a mortgage (with our caveators’ consent), and agreements to mortgage subject only upon our caveats being defeated or removed, to a total of at least $22.7m. This seems peculiar that if Delta can have $22.7m in security that it would write off above $13.3m of what the law would require MUST go to ratepayers.

I am aware that DCC 100% own Dunedin City Holdings Ltd (DCHL) and that DCHL 100% own Delta Utility Services Ltd; so under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA), in relation to the Noble Yaldhurst Subdivision Christchurch, please provide:-

1. the valuation’s for the mortgaged property that DCC is relying on in its proposal that Delta must lose multiple millions of dollars in debt due to Dunedin ratepayers (despite having “securities in the land that covers the debt” according to Delta media releases)?

2. the total debt due to Delta from the subdivision (actual debt including what Delta consider to be doubtful it can recover)?

3. the total debt secured on the land in mortgage? a/ share of first mortgage? and b/ second mortgage amount including interest?

4. the total sum of “agreements to mortgage” given by Noble Investments Ltd (NIL) to Delta to entice Delta to do work for them?
{See email above for new wording to 4. -Eds}

5. the tender documents and agreements that are, or have been, before DCC for their consideration including how those amounts are proposed to be distributed?

6. DCC’s responses to the people with caveated prior interests in the land who have presented and sought to present and discuss alternative proposals with the Council, including that of redemption and transfer?

7. correspondence and/or actions taken to contact and liaise with existing resident stakeholders with known prior interests in the land and in the development?

Kind regards
Colin Stokes
021 2200622

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Lee Vandervis on Delta + DCHL media release

What if? Dunedin notes:
Dunedin City Councillors have now lost control of DCHL, Delta, and all the other subsidiary companies. Now, your Dunedin City Council is manipulated and run to ground by DCHL chairman Graham Crombie.

Cr Richard Thomson and DCHL’s Graham Crombie should Resign immediately.

Read on.

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Received from Cr Lee Vandervis
Tue, 2 Aug 2016 at 6:48 p.m.

From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2016 18:01:53 +1200
To: Chris Morris [ODT]
Conversation: Yaldhurst
Subject: Re: Yaldhurst

The Mayor and DCHL have stood by and done nothing as DELTA did massive Noble subdivision work costing over $13 million through 2010 to 2013 without getting so much as a progress payment.
DELTA have already written off more than $11 million owed in interest payments and invested a further $3+ million in buying mortgage shares in the ill-fated subdivision in 2013, but this was disguised and Councillors [word deleted] by Chair Crombie and by Mayor Cull despite my specific questioning about the supposed ‘just a bad debt’.
The now $24+ million loss for which DELTA has only a 67% first mortgage as a lever, to get some millions owed paid, has resulted in a 6-years-too-late knee-jerk from DCHL and Mayor Cull to rid itself of the whole mess, the disgusting details of which I am not permitted to divulge because the deed was done in a public-excluded meeting, without being allowed to question the responsible DELTA CEO Cameron or to see the requested valuations and contracts.
Like the Jacks Point/Luggate DELTA subdivision $7-$9 million losses, the same DELTA, some of the same directors, same Project Management company and same DCHL ‘oversight’ have done over Dunedin ratepayers again, this time for even more millions than what resulted when they failed at Jacks Point/Luggate.

[ends]

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[What if? Dunedin : We said DCC could make Real money – now What if? hears that Mr Crombie told reporter Chris Morris that ‘no money is changing hands’. Very few people including most Councillors have any idea of what is truly happening, except that three accountants are writing or was that ‘deciding'(?) the deal, and then this rubbish release from Mr Crombie. OMG]

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Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Update on Yaldhurst subdivision debt recovery

This item was published on 02 Aug 2016

Dunedin City Holdings Limited (DCHL) and its company Delta Utility Services Limited (Delta) can now start to make progress towards recovering money associated with a Canterbury development.

The Dunedin City Council yesterday supported a recommendation from DCHL relating to the Yaldhurst Village subdivision. Delta has an outstanding debt of more than $13 million for infrastructure work it carried out for the development over four years.

DCHL Chairman Graham Crombie says the decision means Delta is authorised to enter a new loan agreement with a potential purchaser of the Yaldhurst subdivision, to replace the existing $13.4 million debt owed to Delta by Noble Investments Limited. Mr Crombie says, “We can now start to make some progress towards recovering this outstanding debt.”

The decision authorises Delta to refinance its outstanding debt with the potential new purchaser, on settlement of the purchaser’s offer to Gold Band Finance Ltd, the first mortgagee.

Gold Band Finance put the Yaldhurst subdivision to tender late last year in a mortgagee sale process. The mortgagee sale is still subject to conditions. When the mortgagee sale process is concluded, Delta will provide a further update on the outcome.

During 2009-2013, Delta provided infrastructure services for the Yaldhurst subdivision through its now closed civil construction business in Christchurch. Delta’s role was as a contractor providing infrastructure services to the developer, Noble Investments Limited. Recovery of the outstanding debt has been held up by a longstanding dispute between the developer and neighbouring properties that has delayed titles being issued for the subdivision.

Mr Crombie says Delta remains fully focused on recovering the outstanding debt owed by the original developer and has mortgage securities in place for the amount owing.

Note: The Dunedin City Council owns Dunedin City Holdings Ltd, which in turn owns seven subsidiary companies being:
● Aurora Energy Ltd
● Delta Utility Services Ltd
● City Forests Ltd
● Dunedin City Treasury Ltd
● Taieri Gorge Railway Ltd
● Dunedin Venues Limited
● Dunedin Venues Management Limited

and a 50% share in Dunedin International Airport Ltd.

Contact Chairman , Dunedin City Holdings Ltd on 03 477 4000.

DCC Link

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta #EpicFail —The End Game according to CD

Updated post
Mon, 1 Aug 2016 at 9:54 a.m.

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Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Sun, 31 Jul 2016 at 9:50 p.m.

Readers and Councillors, there is a way out of the Noble Quagmire— but first, not before there is a wholesale clean out of the Delta senior management and directors, or those that have either created this toxic mess or allowed it to continue, which is all of them.

As time is tight, we will not dwell yet again on this topic…. but we will return.

After spending many months considering this toxic mess and the abysmal management and governance that is evident, your Correspondent has come to a conclusion that shocks even him, but desperate times call for if not desperate, then extreme lateral thinking :

After a clean out at Delta, we must hold our collective noses and Council must do the unthinkable and spend MORE ratepayer funds and BUY OUT GOLDBAND’S 32.50% SHARE OF THE FIRST MORTGAGE and take control of the ENTIRE SUBDIVISION.

Council need only to buy the $2.7M Gold Band First Mortgage to have complete control of the project. There of course remains the issue of the Neighbours and the ongoing court actions, but the Neighbours are very willing to work with Council (not Delta) and they have estimated that a solution to provide for their interests could cost around $2M.

The Neighbours have offered to meet with Councillors immediately, at any time to discuss and resolve the issue. The alternative is ongoing legal action with the Council in a very weak positon. Certainly, Crs Calvert and Vandervis, and other Councillors also share this position.

█ Here is the Outline Plan

1. DCC – (Preferably NOT Delta or DCHL) spends $2.7M to buy the remaining first mortgage. To be free of the toxic taint of the DCHL, ideally a separate Council Owned Company may need to be created. Tax issues may mean it has to stay within Delta but every effort should be made to avoid this. Once the $2.7M mortgage is bought there are no external interest costs, just some rates and insurances, which are minimal in the overall scale of things. Council then has time to make informed decisions. THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO AGREE TO BUY THE MORTGAGE AND STOP THE CURRENT MORTGAGEE SALE (which is possible with the agreement of the Neighbours under s102 of the Property Law Act).

2. BEFORE the remaining mortgage is bought, do a deal with the Neighbours to satisfy their interests which will cost around $2M, plus some amount for Neighbours’ costs – this might be around $500-600,000. The legal costs might grate but that is the cost of acting like a corporate criminal. This step provides certainty to Council there will be no more legal delays that have added years to the project.

3. The DCC appoint a directly employed project manager that is answerable directly to the DCC CEO, and set in place very clear KPIs and make a very large proportion of his/her remuneration subject to those KPIs. NOT a “Consultant” and DEFINITELY NOT Mr Mike Coburn or any other person associated with past or present Directors.

4. That project manager will have full visibility of absolutely all costs relating to the subdivision past and present, and will present full and detailed monthly reporting to Councillors and DCC Management and appear at all Council meetings. The project manager will have complete control over the Delta CEO on this matter.

5. Resolve with Christchurch City Council and Yaldhurst Community what is required to make a workable and safe subdivision.

6. Complete the work required to sell the first stages of the residential subdivisions – there are around 80 sections ready to go and if a deal was offered to a housing company like Mike Greer Homes that had demonstrated expertise and capacity to build cost effective homes, the deal would be done in a week. The remaining work would NOT be done by Delta but by a small efficient company. Above all, it is important that the work awarded by the DCC project manager is an open and transparent process and there are no links to Delta or DCHL Directors, past or present.

7. Councillors must understand the land will never be worth less than it is now – they must avoid Denham Shale-like stupidity that occurred at Luggate where land was sold for a fraction of the cost, only for the sections to be marketed several years later at prices that would have yielded Delta all of its funds spent there, interest and a profit besides. Council must learn from the mistakes past, not repeat them, otherwise there will be more Auditor-general and Ombudsman reports, and it won’t be good for Council.

8. Councillors must resist temptation to bow to the Delta / DCHL Directors recommendations to sell now – the overriding concern of these incompetents is to sweep this toxic mess under the carpet and hope that Ratepayers will buy the TINA line – there is no alternative, we just had to move on with another $10-20M loss….

9. The directors will be pushing hard for a quick sale and say in effect : “If you don’t accept this mortgagee offer there won’t be another as good” which is utter rubbish. There were several mortgagee offers, despite the property being marketed over the holiday break and with a lot of complexity in the sale document that wrote off large chunks of value. But the essential point is that the first sections that are almost ready and all or part of the commercial land is sold off separately, then Delta plus get MORE than what is currently available :

10. What is the ultimate value of the land ? Very quickly, there is over 35,000 m2 of commercial land, for a major commercial centre including retail anchors and specialty shopping that is already master planned with the main entrance road virtually complete. This excludes the main entrance road and shared parking circulation roads. Even in a fire sale this land is worth around $90-100 /m2. This alone is a value of $31M minimum, Councillors. Admittedly it will take time to sell down, but the upside is huge again – even industrial land in Christchurch is $250-300 /m2, and commercial zoning is worth more again. Completed, in an orderly sell down over time, 35,000 m2 at $300 /m2 is …. too big to contemplate !! The 80 completed sections would be worth around $9M nett after selling costs, and then there are 190 consented but undeveloped sections that your Correspondent says are worth around $9M also. These end value figures are why Noble are fighting so hard to regain control of the asset. Yes, there is some re-work and further costs, but they are small in relation to the total asset. The key is not to pass that value to some bottom feeding vulture at mortgagee sale that is likely to be NIL in disguise. NOTE : Your Correspondent has not calculated in detail the area of the commercial land.

11. The Delta Directors and Mr Crombie, Mr Dixon and Mr Cameron cannot be trusted. They have not ever given Councillors the full facts about a range of matters, have at best misled Mr McKenzie. Their willingness to simply close the door and accept a huge loss on this deal is plainly evident by the fact they wrote off in excess of $10M in their 2015 accounts. They just want to forget this mess ever existed, because it is Other People’s Money.

12. Councillors should consider 2 final facts : The only way that the $24M investment that ratepayers have made in this project to be protected and repaid is if Council finishes the project, even if just in part. With what has gone on, there must be full accountability and transparency which can only be achieved by full Council control. The other thing to remember is that Council has already set a precedent to bail out loss making Council enterprises : It’s called the stadium. Council agreed to reduce the rent by $1.85M per year. If Council takes an amount equal to around 18 months of Stadium rent subsidy to DVML, it can have control over the subdivision and very likely make back at least the $10-15M in interest costs that would pay for the Luggate and Jacks Point debacles !! Result !!

Go on Councillors, make a sensible and decision tomorrow and make us proud.

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #10 : The Beginning of the End : Grady Cameron and his Steam Shovel

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Sun, 31 Jul 2016 at 1:18 a.m.

Dear Readers

We must give plaudits to Vaughan Elder of the ODT for Saturday’s front page article on Delta’s court action over the Noble Subdivision. Readers should remember that the new CEO of the ODT Grant McKenzie, Mr Elder’s employer, stated in a Council Meeting in February that there was “no relationship” between Gold Band Finance and Delta, and continued to perpetrate that myth in Saturday’s newspaper : Mr McKenzie “stood by comments he made at the council meeting at February”. That is a classic piece of misdirection, in that most people will read it and construe that Mr McKenzie is saying his comments in February were true and accurate, but of course it does not say that —Mr McKenzie has thrown a lifeline to himself so that when the good ship Delta sinks, he can say that he “stood by” his comments in so far as what he knew or had been definitively confirmed to him at the time —or some other carefully concocted excuse that may or may not be true.

But readers, tonight we are not concerned with Mr McKenzie (you can go now Mr McKenzie, we know you read this site….), but the dismal and desperate Mr Grady Cameron. Saturday’s article was very telling in many respects :

Firstly, when Delta thought it had a chance of controlling the issue back in February, it issued a general press release via Gary Dixon and made contact with What if? to deal with alleged “misinformation” that was being perpetrated (mostly by your correspondent). Back then, Mr Graham Crombie, the DCHL chair, was also wheeled out to add gravitas and to try to stabilise the situation, which failed miserably, as your correspondent was happy to predict. See the earlier post Tea & Taxing Questions (6 Mar 2016). It was suggested in that post that Mr Crombie conduct a personal risk register cost/benefit analysis, for any Noble involvement. Mr Crombie has read the tea leaves, and neither him nor any other director are anywhere to be seen. Mr Cameron (Grady) is all on his own.

Let us examine the hole that Grady has dug for himself. Grady is quite clearly not really an earthmoving guy, and has obviously never read the early childhood earthmover’s bible written in 1939 by Virginia Lee Burton, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel : Four corners…neat and square…four walls straight down…We’ve dug so fast and we’ve dug so well that we’ve quite forgotten to leave a way out! —Yes readers, there is no way out, for Grady.

Over a Choysa (No sugar please, it’s late), let us examine some of his statements in Saturday’s ODT.

In a response emailed to the ODT, Mr Cameron disagreed

Well Grady, how about sending out a general press release or an email, as you did in February so that others like What if? who have been on your trail for months, can verify what you are saying is factual, and you are not merely trying to sidestep Mr Elder who is new to the issue.

“We remain fully focused on recovering the outstanding debt owed to Delta from the developer and have securities in place for the amount owing.”

That is a disgraceful misrepresentation of the truth, Grady Cameron, and you know it is. Your DCHL chair Mr Crombie confirmed that the amount owed in March including interest, was over $24M, and you have security for $13.3M. This is beyond doubt because the recent court documents show you were willing to allow Gold Band to sell the mortgage for $16M, which included your second mortgage interest of $5M. This meant after Gold Band was paid its –current– share of the 32.5% of the First Mortgage, Delta would receive $13M. Mr Crombie also confirms you are not telling the truth because he said in the ODT (23 Feb 2016) that Delta would have to write off millions, but not to worry, it was only interest and it was “horrendous”.

The mortgagee sale was being conducted by Gold Band Finance, not Delta, he said.

Grady, with this statement you are not fit to remain as CEO any longer. Your disdain for the collective intelligence of Ratepayers is clearly in the gutter. You –Delta!, dictate what Gold Band can and cannot do. See the earlier post #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision: Cameron, Crombie and McKenzie (24 Feb 2016). Grady, you spent $3.39M on a very likely illegal 67.50% share of the Gold Band first mortgage so you could dictate to Gold Band what they can and can’t do, and you have promised to pay all their costs, “legal or otherwise”. You have already dictated to Gold Band that they cannot sell the first mortgage to the other landowners, who offered to buy it. This is confirmed in Gold Band emails in court documents.

How about answering these questions Grady :

When purchasing the partial first mortgage amounts, what interest rate did Delta have to pay for the first mortgage amounts ?

Was it 22.50% compounding, or a figure close to that? If Delta has to pay 22.50% interest, why do you think it is appropriate for Ratepayers to receive no interest on the $13M approx. of core debt that has been outstanding for six years ?

It (Delta) had not been involved in any unethical behaviour

We could have hours of entertainment with this one, but gravitas and the impending council meeting this Monday mean we must play it straight.

Grady, that is another disgusting fabrication.

Did you allow the ENTIRE SUBDIVISION WORK COMPLETED BY DELTA AT THE NOBLE SUBDIVISION to be completed NOT to the CCC CONSENT DRAWINGS AND SPECS, but to radically different specifications, with roadways that were 8 METRES NARROWER than the CCC Consent Requirements ?

Did this continue for AT LEAST 18 MONTHS from late 2009 to mid 2011 ?

Is it normal for Delta to ignore the local authority consent conditions for projects and simply suit themselves and their clients ?

If not, how on earth could you consider it “ethical” on this project ?

Did Delta install stormwater systems at the subdivision that were undersized to cater for the neighbours’ land, but continue to assure them that their interests were being catered for ?

Do you consider that actively trying to defeat “known prior interests in the land”, that were specified very clearly in the sale and purchase agreements for the land that the subdivision was being built upon, ethical behaviour ?

Do you think that attempting to have your $5M second mortgage, that was registered after various caveats were registered, paid ahead of the caveated interests is ethical ?

Do you say the following -extracted from the post Epic Fraud #5 – Delta and the ghostly hand of Tom Kain (12 Jul 2016)- shows ethical behaviour ?

Mr Smillie (Delta’s lawyer) in an email of 11 February 2011 sets out step by step how the deception will work :

1. NIL granting a registered mortgage to Delta.
2. Philpott etc consenting to registration of the mortgage but the caveat remains in place ahead of Delta’s mortgage.
3. Gold Band agrees to Delta having 1st priority
4. Gold Band agrees to hold its 1st registered mortgage on lot 19 on trust for Delta (To allow sale / enforcement by Delta if necessary so as to avoid caveat issues

Mr Smillie concludes by stating “while not ideal that seems to be as close as we can get to a 1st registered mortgage position for Delta given the caveat issue”.

If you consider it ethical, what would it take for you to find there was unethical behaviour —murder ?

Are you willing to state categorically that you will resign if any of these allegations are true ?

tried several times to find a solution […] on the neighbouring land.

Grady, did any of these solutions involve actually working with the neighbours, or merely trying to deceive and cheat them of their prior known interests.

Provide email evidence of any assertion that you sought to satisfy their interests.

If you allegedly ‘tried to find a solution’ why was it necessary to go about a constructive fraud, designed by Mr Smillie, as noted above to defeat their caveats.

He denied Delta’s actions over Yaldhurst had been reckless.

Grady, if Delta has not been “reckless” then by your lights, Delta has acted with some degree of prudence.
Let us back the truck up here.
You, personally, approved Delta’s involvement in this subdivision, in 2009, with full knowledge of the following :

a) The land was in fact not even owned by the Developer NIL, but in a complicated buy-back scenario with a lot of obligations to the landowners.
b) Has a third (or fourth) tier finance company, Gold Band Finance, as first mortgagee (because the banks would not lend on it).
c) The first mortgage loan amount was only $1.75M, it was fully drawn down, and the finance company Gold Band had NO ABILITY to advance any further funds to pay for Delta’s work.
d) No other second mortgage funding was in place to allow Delta to be paid.
e) The Developer NIL had no capacity at all to make payments to Delta from its own resources.
f) The Developer and Owners, Apple Fields and NIL, were well known commercial hazards and aggressive litigants.
g) The subdivision has 33KV overhead powerlines running through it, and has limited market appeal.
h) Delta would not be paid until the most or all of the sections were sold and paid for, and the industry at the time would have forecast around a two-year sell down period.

In other words, you approved $11M of work, in a dodgy subdivision project, that had no chance of ANY meaningful repayment, for at least three to four years, on the absolute best case scenario, until the sections were sold.

Grady, if you consider this NOT to be reckless commercial behaviour for a Ratepayer owned company, you need to be sacked, now.

Readers, in conclusion, even in our children’s story, ‘Mike Mulligan’, there were consequences for non–performance. Grady, it looks as if the Delta Directors and DCHL have left you, and you are, indeed…. the weakest link, and expendable. Just like Mary-Anne, the steam shovel, along will come new management, just like the new diesel shovels, and electric shovels that made Mary-Anne redundant. There will be NO MORE WORK for you, and just like Mary-Anne, you will be GONE. “They left the canals, and the railroads, and the highways, and the airports, and the big cities, where no one wanted them any more….. and went away.”

Readers, if you have the patience, the best primer for the sorry saga is found in the first post Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud (5 Mar 2016).

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

*Images: [lessons in creative destruction, a shocked Mary-Anne] Illustrations from Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (1939), a book by Virginia Lee Burton – blog.acton.org | childrensbooksguide.com | blog.acton.org

Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #9 : The Long & Winding Road…. Leads Back to Delta’s Door

Updated post – emails added below
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 at 2:20 p.m.

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Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 at 2:01 a.m.

Dear Readers

It has been a week of action around the ill-fated Noble Subdivision. Fill the teapot and hang on to your hat…er, tea cosy.

The week started with what appeared to be a lucky break for Delta. Judge Osborne, inexplicably, and against the predictions of your correspondent, found in favour of Delta. (Actually Gold Band, but we all now know of course that Delta have a very special relationship with Gold Band that involves whips and chains of a sort, and even legal blindfolds —Delta most definitely wear the security sharing trousers). Judge Osborne will not allow a stay on the mortgagee sale, which allows the property to be sold ahead of the Court of Appeal case where the landowners will set out their case that Delta have engaged in constructive fraud.

Your correspondent will return to the many, many puzzling aspects of the decision in a future post, but first the breaking news :

Any comfort Mr Smillie, Mr Cameron, and the assorted Delta hangers on directors and executives may have felt will be very short lived as it turns out that this defeat is actually a Good Thing as far as the plaintiffs are concerned. It means that instead of pursuing a small finance company (with its strings being pulled by Delta), Delta and the DCC are now the primary target. Further, now that the losses to the landowners are crystallised if the sale proceeds, which is the avowed intention of Gold Band, the claims may well be much bigger.

The “legal” explanation is as follows…. It’s musical chairs – the last man/entity standing at the end of the day cops the lot.

A similar example that has cost councils large sums, including our DCC, are claims for leaky buildings : The vast majority of claims are against the local authorities who merely inspected the work, they did not build it or design it – but when the developer doesn’t exist, the architect and builders have “re-structured” to prevent claims, and the painter, plasterer and roofer have no money, then councils get landed with the claims. The QLDC have a never ending series of these sorts of claims and they mostly involve millions. (They have at least two on at present).

Tonight, all DCC Councillors received an email from the landowners explaining that yes, the DCC and Delta are going to be taken to Court for the constructive fraud, and giving several examples of the constructive fraud. They then set out the small matter of the approximate $14-17million loss that Delta have already advised the Council they expect to lose – and why this doesn’t have to be the case. There is pain from both sides of this financial double-edged sword – the expected loss, and the court action. However, far from being Noble-like aggressive litigants, the landowners have proposed that the DCC works with them to maximise their return.

The email is reproduced below.

The logic appears compelling – but what Councillors, other than Vandervis and Calvert, have the character and integrity to get to the bottom of the matter, and acknowledge that there have been some illegal acts committed at Noble by Delta and its agents. Perhaps Cr Peat could do something useful or even visible as his parting gift to the city, because his self-serving valedictory address in the ODT recently was the first time Dunedin Ratepayers had actually heard of him.

What Councillors have the intestinal fortitude to look the sorry band of Delta and DCHL Directors in the eye and say to them— “If any of the allegations in this email are true then you have no business or future with ANY DCC or associated entity and we expect your resignation in the morning ?”  

If your correspondent sounds disgruntled, he is : It is election season, and there are no votes to be had in this matter. Vague platitudes (the preferred modus operandi of many Councillors) are also of no help. Are our Councillors going to shrug off an attack of the turnips and do something ?

What price and what probability, is there for integrity here, readers ?

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[click to enlarge]

Attachment: 2016 07 28 s102 Stokes Smith Gold Band_Delta_DCC

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Additional emails received today:

Attachment: Fourth amended statement of claim joining GB and Delta

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *noble* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.