guy hutchings !! have we got more for you

2008 Peanuts..
Been long time hope I don't get moderated like all my past post..So fellow pif lets get on with saving some of our money and putting sum buggers in goal..THE former MFS executive who was in charge of the Premium Income Fund has denied knowing $108 million was taken out of it to pay the group's 2007 dividend, and says he cannot explain how his signature ended up on backdated documents.

Guy Hutchings was the chief executive of MFS Investment Management when it was the responsible entity for the investment fund, which once held almost $900 million in assets.

Now managed by Wellington Capital, the fund's value at the end of last year was down to $270 million and it made a $35 million loss in the six months to the end of December.

Under examination in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday by Adam Bell, SC, Mr Hutchings said he did not know the money was taken out of the fund to pay the MFS dividend that year.

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''Can you offer any explanation of how this unacceptable state of affairs occurred?'' Mr Bell asked.

Mr Hutchings: ''Without going through all of the documents that would be available and the timing of them, I can't. I can't recall at all signing any payment transfers or anything of that kind for this transaction.'' He said he could not recall the payment being made.

The court has heard the dividend was paid in October 2007, when MFS was suffering negative earnings and cash flow and did not have enough money to pay its interest.

The group's chief financial officer, David Anderson, who held 2 million shares at the time, arranged for four loans to be moved from companies in the group, in the lead-up to the dividend being paid in October, the court has heard.

It has also heard the loans moved through the Premium Income Fund, though Mr Anderson has denied he used loans to pay a dividend the group could not afford.

Yesterday in the examination by the liquidator Kate Barnet, Mr Hutchings was also asked to explain his involvement in the backdating of documents - to ''approve'' investments made by the fund, four months after money was paid out of it.

He agreed his electronic signature appeared on the documents, but denied he had put it there. He could not say who else had access to it.

''It's just not something that I would do, I don't believe,'' he said.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/mfs-fund-chief-cant-recall-signing-money-transfers-20100804-11flt.html#ixzz2tTm8A5fL
I have found lot/s more 2008 lots to read here.... cheers Nor