VOFF calls for action against Trio director
Victims of Financial Fraud (VOFF) has called on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to write to the Guernsey Financial Authorities regarding former director of a Trio Capital fund, Carl Meerveld, after Guernsey citizens told the group that their authorities would respond to such a request.
The citizens of Guernsey became aware of Meerveld’s past when, after he stood as a candidate on the parish council in 2006, local residents Googled him and found his name in court documents relating to the Trio Capital scheme. When they asked Meerveld about it, he defended his position by showing evidence that he offered his assistance to ASIC in 2010 regarding the investigation but the regulator declined his offer.
In an open letter, VOFF asked the regulator to request the Guernsey authorities to question Meerveld on his director role, saying that as no one in Guernsey was harmed, doing so unsolicited was not a high priority for the authorities there.
Under clause 11 of the Fraud (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law 2009, the Guernsey authorities would be able to question Meerveld. VOFF said that this clause “offers an opportunity for ASIC to be ‘proactive’ [in the] use of ‘the mindset of the ASIC of today’ as mentioned in the Banking Royal Commission”.
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