SPI directors fined for breaching financial reporting rules

The two directors of SPI Property Fund Limited have today been fined $25,312 each for breaches of the Financial Reporting Act in the Auckland District Court.

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) brought three charges against directors, Murray Alcock and Allister Knight, for failing to file audited financial statements for SPI Property Fund for the years ending 2011, 2012 and 2013. The directors pleaded guilty to the breaches.

In his decision, Judge Thorburn said: “The purpose of the obligation to file reports is obviously to ensure transparency and preserve integrity in the management of investors' money. Directors of companies acquiring funds from the public, must assume a high level of accountability for that and always be able to demonstrate that the funds are being used and applied in a meticulous way conforming to the prospectus that the investors have responded to.”

FMA Director of Enforcement and Investigations Belinda Moffat said: “The FMA will take enforcement action when companies persistently fail to meet their obligations.”