NZ cracks down on mortgage schemes
NEW Zealand authorities continue to crack down on contributory mortgage offerings, but their efforts are proving almost fruitless.
The former manager of Reeves Moses Hudig’s contributory mortgage business (later Harts), Peter van Nieuwkoop, has been found guilty on 34 charges relating to four contributory mortgage schemes dating back to 1999.
However, at the same time he was in court over these matters, his new company was advertising for business in major New Zealand newspapers.
The Securities Commission says it can ban ads if they are deceptive or misleading. In this particular case, the commission has not formed a view on the ads in question.
But it has ruled on a scheme run by The Mortgage Financier and distributed by nationwide planning firm Money Managers.
The commission has ordered The Mortgage Financier to stop acting on a property development.
According to the commission, more than 1,000 people had invested in the mortgage, which was lending money to the developer of a multi-storey car park building in central Auckland.
The commission says it acted, as the valuation of the contributory mortgage “was likely to deceive, mislead or confuse investors” and it did not comply with regulations.
Contributions were paid to the developer before the full amount of the mortgage had been raised.
They were also made when insufficient funds had been raised to complete the project and when the broker knew, or ought to have known, the valuation report was false or misleading.
—Philip Macalister
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