Aurora FM reports ‘disappearance’ of $1m
Fund manager, Aurora Funds Management Limited has used an announcement on its web site to confirm it had reported to the Victoria Police the disappearance of approximately $1 million from its Aurora Property Buy-Write Income Trust.
The company said the it had become aware of the event and that it appeared the moneys had been taken from its account without proper authority.
It said the matter had been reported to the Victoria Police and was currently under investigation.
The company later announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that the company’s chief financial officer, Betty Poon, had been terminated effective immediately.
The fund manager said it would also notify this incident to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as required under the conditions of its Australian financial services licence and the insurer under its investment management insurance policy.
“Aurora confirms that it has appropriate insurance cover in place and also expects to take recovery action against the alleged perpetrator as soon as practicable,” it said.
“Although AFML’s investigation is continuing, at this stage the board has no reason to believe that there has been any other unauthorised withdrawal of money from any other fund managed by AFML. Further, AFML believes the perpetrator acted alone,” the web site statement said.
This incident is not expected to affect completion of AUP’s takeover of the RNY Property Trust (RNY). Although payment to some RNY unit holders has been delayed, outstanding cheques should be received this week.
According to FE Analytics, the Aurora Fortitude Absolute Return fund had an annualised 12-month return of -12.11 per cent, against a 9.00 per cent benchmark.
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