Trustee of NZ foreign trust turns to the High Court in attempt to recover more than $2.3 million from Vivier and Company

The trustee of a New Zealand foreign trust is turning to the High Court to try and recover $2 million, plus interest, which the trust invested with NZ financial service provider Vivier and Company Ltd.

Mubashir Qasim, trustee of the FKC Private Trust, is seeking to have Vivier and Company put into liquidation with a hearing set for the High Court at Christchurch on February 24. This follows the serving of a statutory demand on Vivier and Company in November, in an attempt to recover the trust's investment.

Interest.co.nz wrote in detail about the dispute between the FKC Private Trust and Vivier and Company, which is allegedly controlled by convicted British fraudster Ian Andrews, last year. Subsequently the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) issued a warning about Vivier and Company.

With interest, Qasim says the trust is owed more than $2.3 million for a $2 million investment placed with Vivier and Company in 2019 at 6.1% annual interest that has now matured but not been paid. A second $2 million investment, that should be paying 6.5%, is due to mature in May.

Japanese businessman Kosei Yamaguchi and his children are beneficiaries of the FKC Private Trust. Qasim says the trust hasn't received any account statements from Vivier since June last year.

"According to my estimates, $2 million plus interest is over $2.3 million [owed]," Qasim says.

Vivier and Company is a registered NZ company that has been offering banking type services primarily overseas. It's not a registered bank or non-bank deposit taker, both of which are supervised by the Reserve Bank. Interest.co.nz first wrote about Vivier and Company in 2015, when it was first linked with Andrews.

Registrar of Companies Sanjai Raj now wants to remove Vivier and Company, plus sister company Vivier Capital Ltd, from the Companies Register. This is because they no longer meet the Companies Act requirement of having at least one NZ or Australian based director. Another sister company, Vivier Investments Ltd, has already been removed from the Companies Register.

Vanessa Cook, Manager of Integrity and Enforcement at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, says objections to the removal of Vivier and Company and Vivier Capital have been received and accepted. These objections are from Qasim due to the liquidation application. Once this is dealt with, the two companies will be removed from the Companies Register, Cook says.

Christchurch man John Johns, the most recent of a long line of NZ-based Vivier directors, says he resigned on September 21 last year. Johns says Vivier "have up and left NZ." Qasim believes Vivier's operations are in Romania. No one from Vivier has responded to interest.co.nz's requests for comment.

Johns' Christchurch address was served with a Notice of Proceeding for putting Vivier into liquidation.

Vivier and Company has been in NZ regulators' sights for several years. The FMA had Vivier removed from NZ's Financial Service Providers' Register (FSPR) in 2016, having to go to the Court of Appeal to achieve this. The FSPR is a searchable register of individuals, businesses and organisations that provide financial services in NZ.

In last year's warning, published on its website, the FMA says it's concerned that materials and information published by Vivier on the internet and on its website have the potential to mislead investors that Vivier provides financial services in NZ or from NZ. Apart from meeting the legal criteria of a NZ-based director and being registered as a company in NZ, Vivier and Company has been run from overseas. The Vivier companies previously had their registered office and address for service at a Dunedin golf course.

Andrews, formerly Ian Leaf, told interest.co.nz last year that he has "no role within Vivier," and isn't a shareholder, employee, consultant to Vivier or a customer of Vivier. This was when interest.co.nz asked him about a significant volume of email correspondence about Vivier matters, provided by several sources, in which Andrews appeared to be playing a role in Vivier's day-to-day operations.

Andrews, then known as Leaf, was found guilty at London's Southwark Crown Court of 13 counts of fraudulent trading, following an eight year investigation by HM Revenue & Customs in 2005. 

"The complex £76 million fraud centred on a company purchase scheme which involved Leaf buying 13 UK subsidiary companies which were subject to UK tax. Once Leaf acquired the companies they were used solely for fraudulent purposes," HM Revenue & Customs said in a 2005 press release.

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