Southern Response committed "fraud" according to High Court decision, explain.
Paul King made this Official Information request to Megan Woods
Megan Woods did not have the information requested.
From: Paul King
Dear Megan Woods,
The Southern Response website states:
"Southern Response is the government-owned company responsible for settling claims by AMI policyholders for Canterbury earthquake damage which occurred before 5 April 2012 (the date AMI was sold to IAG).
The ongoing series of earthquakes since September 2010 had a profound impact on AMI and its Canterbury customers. As a result of the unprecedented cost of earthquake claims, in April 2011, AMI received capital support from the New Zealand Government to ensure the interests of all AMI policyholders were protected and all claims would continue to be met under the terms of their policies."
1. Is this a true statement?
2. Are former AMI customers supposed to approach some other party like AMI to have their claims settled?
3. If so why and why would the above statement not say that?
4. If not then why do Southern Response seem to think that they do?
5. If you return to Government what will you be doing for claimants who have still not had their AMI claim settled by Southern Response?
6. Are Southern Response an insurance company?
7. Southern Response has been proven in Court to have committed offences commonly known as "fraud" and breaches of the Fair Trading Act and Consumer Guarantees Act while in business, what will you as Minister be doing about these offences?
8. Should you as Minister be referring these offenders to the Police?
9. If not, why not?
10. What compensations will be paid for these frauds on homeowners?
11. Will the Minister be changing the law to ensure that no time limit is applied to claims which have been delayed by fraud and not yet settled?
12. Why should "fraudster" at Southern Response use up time while claimants wait for their settlements?
13. When will interest be paid?
14. Why can't it be paid interest on our claims and the undisputed amounts while we wait for our settlements?
15. If the Government is short of cash then why weren't the claimants told this?
16. And why if so, is $250 million being given to the Americas Cup yacht race for billionaires when we are so short of cash?
17. The "AMI" in the statement above, is this AMI the current company or does it refer to Southern Response (SRES) or another entity entirely?
Please treat this as an Official Information Act request and please make it urgent before the election if possible.
Yours faithfully,
Paul King
From: M Woods (MIN)
Megan Woods
Thank you for your email. Due to the high volume of enquiries at this
time, my team will be triaging issues related to COVID19 in the first
instance.
I appreciate your patience at this time and will get back to you as soon
as I can.
If you are a resident in the Wigram electorate please email
[email address] and my electorate office team will get
back to you as soon as they can
With Kind Regards,
Office of Hon Dr Megan Woods
Minister of Energy and Resources | Minister for Greater Christchurch
Regeneration | Minister of Housing | Minister of Research, Science and
Innovation
Authorised by Hon Dr Megan Woods MP, Parliament Buildings, Wellington.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Hon Grant Robertson
Kia ora Paul
I am writing to acknowledge your Official Information Act request below.
Your request has been transferred to Hon Grant Robertson as he is the
Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission, which includes
responsibility for Southern Response.
Your request was received by this office on 2 October.
Regards
Joanna
[1]Crest Joanna
Carr,
Private
Secretary
Office of
Hon Grant
Robertson
Minister of
Finance |
Minister
for Sport
and
Recreation
| Minister
Responsible
for the
Earthquake
Commission
| Associate
Minister
for Arts,
Culture and
Heritage
show quoted sections
From: Hon Grant Robertson
Kia ora Paul
Attached is the response to your OIA request, initially sent to Hon Megan
Woods on 2 October 2020. Hon Grant Robertson is responding to your request
as he is the current Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission,
which includes responsibility for Southern Response.
Regards
Joanna
[1]Crest Joanna
Carr,
Private
Secretary
Office of
Hon Grant
Robertson
Minister of
Finance |
Minister
for Sport
and
Recreation
| Minister
Responsible
for the
Earthquake
Commission
| Associate
Minister
for Arts,
Culture and
Heritage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
From: Hon Dr David Clark
Kia ora Paul
I am writing in response to your request under the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act), received on 2 October 2020.
Your request referenced the following:
“The Southern Response website states:
"Southern Response is the government-owned company responsible for
settling claims by AMI policyholders for Canterbury earthquake damage
which occurred before 5 April 2012 (the date AMI was sold to IAG).
The ongoing series of earthquakes since September 2010 had a profound
impact on AMI and its Canterbury customers. As a result of the
unprecedented cost of earthquake claims, in April 2011, AMI received
capital support from the New Zealand Government to ensure the interests of
all AMI policyholders were protected and all claims would continue to be
met under the terms of their policies."
You asked the following questions, in relation to those statements:
1. Is this a true statement?
2. Are former AMI customers supposed to approach some other party like
AMI to have their claims settled?
3. If so why and why would the above statement not say that?
4. If not then why do Southern Response seem to think that they do?
5. If you return to Government what will you be doing for claimants who
have still not had their AMI claim settled by Southern Response?
6. Are Southern Response an insurance company?
7. Southern Response has been proven in Court to have committed offences
commonly known as "fraud" and breaches of the Fair Trading Act and
Consumer Guarantees Act while in business, what will you as Minister
be doing about these offences?
8. Should you as Minister be referring these offenders to the Police?
9. If not, why not?
10. What compensations will be paid for these frauds on homeowners?
11. Will the Minister be changing the law to ensure that no time limit is
applied to claims which have been delayed by fraud and not yet
settled?
12. Why should "fraudster" at Southern Response use up time while
claimants wait for their settlements?
13. When will interest be paid?
14. Why can't it be paid interest on our claims and the undisputed amounts
while we wait for our settlements?
15. If the Government is short of cash then why weren't the claimants told
this?
16. And why if so, is $250 million being given to the Americas Cup yacht
race for billionaires when we are so short of cash?
17. The "AMI" in the statement above, is this AMI the current company or
does it refer to Southern Response (SRES) or another entity entirely?
The Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission refused your
request on 28 October 2020 under section 18(g) of the Act:
· the information requested is not held by the department
or Minister and there is no reason to think that transferring the request
would yield the information from another source.
Following your request that the Ombudsman review this decision, Minister
Clark is now reconsidering your request.
The part of your request in questions 1, 2, 3, 4 & 14 is more closely
connected to the functions of Southern Response Earthquake Services
Limited (Southern Response). Accordingly, under section 14(b)(ii) of the
Act , your questions 1, 2, 3, 4 & 14 have been transferred to Southern
Response. Minister Clark will respond to the parts of your request not
transferred, in due course.
Southern Response has 20 working days from receipt of this transfer to
make a decision on your request.
Regards
Joanna
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D53BBC.BF2178F0 Joanna Carr,
Advisor
Hon Dr David
Clark
Minister of
Commerce and
Consumer
Affairs |
Minister for
the Digital
Economy and
Communications
| Minister for
State Owned
Enterprises |
Minister of
Statistics |
Minister
Responsible
for the
Earthquake
Commission
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
From: Hon Dr David Clark
Kia ora Paul
Attached is the response to your OIA, previously sent to Hon Grant
Robertson.
Regards
Joanna
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01D53BBC.BF2178F0 Joanna Carr,
Advisor
Hon Dr David
Clark
Minister of
Commerce and
Consumer
Affairs |
Minister for
the Digital
Economy and
Communications
| Minister for
State Owned
Enterprises |
Minister of
Statistics |
Minister
Responsible
for the
Earthquake
Commission
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
From: Kelsey Church
Dear Mr King,
Please find attached our response to your OIA request.
Kind regards,
Kelsey
Kelsey Church
Company Secretary
Southern Response Earthquake Services Ltd
PO Box 9052
Christchurch
[1]www.southernresponse.co.nz
[2]cid:image003.jpg@01D06C77.243426D0
Southern Response Earthquake Services Ltd is the government-owned company
responsible for settling claims by AMI policyholders for Canterbury
earthquake damage which occurred before 5 April 2012 (the date AMI was
sold to IAG).
show quoted sections
Canterbury Victim left an annotation ()
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Paul King left an annotation ()
The commonly accepted definition of FRAUD from wikipedia ( but also found substantially the same definition in legal text books etc ) is:
Wikipedia - Fraud
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right.
Minister Clark seems to think that Southern Response has not committed fraud even though a judge in Court has found:
"The Court of Appeal has upheld a decision of the High Court which found Southern Response liable for misrepresentation pursuant to s35 of the Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017, and misleading and deceptive conduct pursuant to s9 of the Fair Trading Act 1986."
Sounds exactly like FRAUD to me. Why can't our Minister ask the Police to charge the people doing this misleading and deceptive conduct? He represents us, the Public of New Zealand and sets the policy for Southern Response .. therefore it seems he is agreeable and or complicit for the misleading and deceptive conduct to occur and continue. Our Minister has internal documents and evidence I do not have so I feel it is him that should refer the matter to the Police otherwise Southern Response gains from their fraud and indirectly the Minister being in charge of an entity committing fraud also gains by protecting his reputation. Our Minister should be acting beyond reproach as he acts for us not the leftovers of a insurance company selling policies they could never ever manage to pay in the event of a major insured event.
Meanwhile the people of Canterbury lose and eventually the interest which has to be paid on the claims will have to be paid anyway when we win.
Another issue is covering up a crime is also a crime.
Paul King
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