Bernard! Haven't you realised, after all your experience and training , that good guys finish last! "The system", in all its forms, is there to be used by the likes of Watson and Hothcin to their own advantage, not to protect the innocent.

I say well done Eric, Istanbul is a wonderful venue for a special occasion like that. You could party in one of those ancient Roman cisterns restaurants. $13,000 for a first class cabin on Singapore Airlines new Airbus 380 is well worth the money unfortunately you have to slum it to Singapore first in the 777 before you board the A380. And well done for holding on to much of your wealth in these turbulent times. Entrepreneurs like Eric need uneducated punters in order to accumulate wealth. New Zealanders who invested in him and others deserve nothing better.

I cant help but compare Watson and Cullen who stuffed up NZs financial lives and how the inept and inane get rewarded WATSON KEEPS HIS MONEY, and CULLEN GETS THE POSTBANK,or is it the Postbag

Wake up and smell the roses, children!!!

Watson et al haven't suddenly whipped off their sheep's clothing and bared their fangs.

Anyone with a smidgen of sense could take one look at Watson et al several years ago, scatched their chinny, chin chins and declined to place their hard earned in their care.

So you believed the accounts, the promises? Expected nanny state to take care of you? Blinded by the minimal premium rates they were paying?

Look at the person, not the numbers would be my advice. Or as my gran used to say "You can tell a lot about a person from the shoes they wear and the company they keep!"

Kin, get your facts right before posting. Some if the directors of these finance comapnies (eg Nathans Finance/VTL) 'HAVE' misled investors and financial investors, by putting false information in their prospectus, and are getting haulled before the courts Investors can only invest on the information provided, and if the securities commission weren't checking these prospectus and that the information was wrong, then investors have been let down by the NZ system. Also finacne companies were offering over 5% more than you could get in the bank at the time, not just 2%, so you are incorrect on a number of points.

Rob : you are so right. Silly investors risk 100 % of their savings, chasing an extra 2 or 3 % annual return. The risk/reward ratio is so badly skewered towards failure, one wonders how the heck they were smart enough to build up a nest egg in the first place.

I feel for the people who did invest their money in Watson and Hotchin, but I can't help feeling, that the stupid just continue to be stupid when I see them invest in what can only be described as a hopeless Prospectus issued by Fonterra.

How much legislation do you need? Or rather - how much return do you need?

The birthday party is tasteless, just like the men who attend and indeed the holder of the party himself. As my accountant says - he just doesn't pass the sniff test.

Funny how all these finance companies really got going once stamp duty was abolished - I am not an advocate of stamp duty - but is there a link?

I do think the accounting standards, which allow accrued interest to be recorded as income when the term of payment was not until the end of the project needs investigating. Without this- aren't these guys all running Ponzi schemes?

All power to Eric Watson for pursuing his "Champagne wishes and caviar dreams".

The investors in Hanover Finance were more than happy to gift him that power at the moratorium meeting in December 2008.

What better way to run out the statutory clock than with a party in Turkey.

I do want to wish Eric watson a happy 50th birthday. But how about he celebrate at home with a few friends around for a quiet drink, and put the money he would have spent back into the company to pay back some of the older investors in hanover who may not actually be around in six years time for the payout......... like my dearly loved mum. Perhaps Eric doesnt have a mum he cares about, or else he would understand my distress about his disgustingly decadent birthday party.

I have already written once to Hanover about my dissappointment re the Hanover investments. I told you how my Dad had invested $6,000 with you and that it was due for payout last October and when he applied for it he was turned down. My dad had cancer, and had planned very carefully to put this money aside to pay for his funeral . A couple of weeks before he died he called my brother up and was extremely distressed because he wasnt able to leave enough money for his funeral and he knew that it would just about clean out my mothers bank account to pay for it. Which it has.

My mum and dad have worked extremely hard all their lives and all they have to show for it is a humble two bedroom house which mum now lives in , and a 1986 car and $3,000 in the bank. If mums car packs up she is in the poo. She really could do with that $6,000 which is due her, now, not in 6 years time when she may not even be here. We want mum to have it now, not be left to her estate. I wish the party goers many troubled dreams at night.
Lynne Mitchener

Brilliant link, Trev. In days of old a chap would clear his throat and say of the young lady : "Ahem...she's my....ah, niece" Sometimes "secretary" was the title given. Which puts a whole new meaning to the term " lap top "

Nice to see that Eric has some bosom buddies, to help him get over the trauma of losing all that money, of those poor folks back in NZ.

Eric worked hard for his money, let him enjoy it. Good on him!!!

Plus the shareholders had their opportunities to have their say, and he's abiding by their requests i.e. all principle paid back in 5 years.

My Dad was mates with Eric Watson's old man for many years through horse breeding and racing and apparently he was a very upright down to earth gentleman who would be perturbed at such a situation.

I was told by Hotchins after the Restructuring Meeting in Tauranga when I was having a GO
"Eric lives overseas he does not have many NZ financial interests anymore he could have just walked away from this thing". So now we know who has got a CONSCIENCE. Yehhhh !!!!!!!!!! We were told during the meeting Hotchins wanted to stay in NZ as he had a 5 year old son. So I guess Watson only agreed to it to help his buddy and partner out and the whole thing had nothing to do with caring about their elderly Investors. There was no way I was going to vote for their Restructuring Plan. The company should have been tossed into Receivership that way we could have seen what they had really been up to. And Ohhhhh what about those lies we were told by staff about how well the company was managing the difficult situation. Margaret

yep!!!!! Happy Birthday Eric.......I hope it's your last one!!!