Manx Herald Isle of Man

Questions to be asked in Keys about Premier Low Risk Fund

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:04:00 -0500

The long running campaign by the Premier Shareholders Group (PSG) to seek a satisfactory resolution of their grievances about the management and performance of the

David Johnson

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:58:33 -0500

The Isle of Man government has adopted the slogan "The Freedom to Flourish" - and part of this "freedom" is to give licence to people to operate investment Funds which are not subject to any form of regulation of approval and where investors are not protected by any statutory compensation arrangements.

These Freedom to Flourish Funds are known as "Experienced Investor Funds" and as the name suggests are designed exclusively for institutional or high net worth, sophisticated investors.

Should an Island based Fund operator decide to target pensioner’s as investors - and publish misleading advice to encourage them to "invest" in their EIF Fund - the FSC and the OFT place the entire blame on "introducers" for assisting in circulating the Fund operator’s misleading advice.

Alice in Wonderland has the “Freedom to Flourish” on the Isle of Man - but even she couldn’t make this up!

gwilym rhys-jones

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:05:39 -0500

Premier was designed to benefit only those unscrupulous mountebanks who created, promoted and hawked it - the latter being the scabrous investment pedlars of the Spanish Costas. A pox on all of them.

John Moss

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:14:47 -0500

“The Manx Herald is only aware of one case where a payout has been made to an investor in the PLRF ...."

Regardless of the number of people who have received compensation payments from the directors of the Premier Low Risk Fund plc” such payments should appear in Fund’s annual accounts and the auditor’s (Deloitte) financial statement to the Fund’s shareholders. Nothing has ever been published.

If the directors were liable to make one payment then they may be equally liable to make sizeable payments to hundreds more people: and under these circumstances the multi-million pound loan owed by the Fund to the Royal Bank of Scotland International will be in jeopardy.

The directors use secretive Caribbean shell companies for paying fees and commissions to unregulated/unlicenced “introducers" - who they represent to the public as “professional” financial advisors. Perhaps compensation payments are channelling through one of these companies?

Either way shareholders in a plc have a legal right to know how their money is disbursed.

The Isle of Man regulatory authorities conveniently turn a blind eye towards all this mischief.

What a way to run a railway!

Jennifer Davidson

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:19:49 -0500

Compensation payments may not appear in the Premier’s Annual Report to the shareholders but what does appear is an item described as … "Audit Fees for the Premier Unit Trust, an investor in the Company, which are also borne by the Company" (Premier).

Can everyone now have their annual accounts paid for by the Fund?

The directors are responsible for the management of the Fund, a public limited company, and as the Fund itself is an inert object incapable of criminal intention any irregularities are entirely the responsibility of the directors and/or the Fund’s auditors Deloitte.

What else will be discovered about this Fund?

Don’t rely on any help in finding out from the Isle of Man Office of Fair Trading and Financial Supervision Commission!

Not Albert Einstein

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:22:04 -0500

With no regard for the consequences the directors of the Premier Low Risk Find plc advised pensioners that the Fund’s risk assessment was comparable to that of depositing money in a Building Society.

This advice caused hundreds of pensioners to transfer their life savings to the directors.

Within a few short years the pensioners had lost up to 30% of their savings and faced another 30% loss if they attempted to rescue their money.

Some Building Society!

And what of the Isle of Man Regulatory Authorities?
Yes you’re right! They will defend the directors come hell or high water!

NEVER INVEST OR DEPOSIT MONEY ON THE ISLE OF MAN!

Premier Shareholders Group

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:24:48 -0500

The Premier Low Risk Find is classified as an “Experienced Investor Fund” (EIF) a derivative of the Isle of Man “Freedom to Flourish” initiative promoting the Island as a place where business is encouraged to “flourish”.

EIF´s were not subject to any form of control or regulation giving the Fund operators the “freedom to flourish” by doing exactly as they pleased.

In the case of Premier this included advising hundreds of pensioners to transfer their life savings to the Fund because it offered capital security and guarantees and was similar to investing in a Building Society.

The Isle of Man government may have abolished EIFs – but the fact that hundreds of pensioners are still suffering the aftershock of their marketing initiative does not appear to concern them!

NEVER INVEST A PENNY ON THE ISLE OF MAN

Mr. Made Poor

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:28:09 -0500

What happened to the fifty page Dossiers of Evidence detailing the activities of the directors of the Premier Low Risk Fund plc copies of which were forwarded in September 2009 to the Isle of Man Office of the Chief Minister, the Treasury, Financial Supervision Commission and the Office of Fair Trading.

Paper shredders working overtime?

Penny Wise

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:32:26 -0500

The Isle of Man government is incapable of understanding that the loss of a lifetime’s work transcends time and long after present government is dead and gone the bitter reminder of a stolen inheritance will remain.

The future generations of thousands of families will treat the words “Isle of Man” with disgust and disdain as they recall the government that sanctioned the theft of their family inheritance.

The genie has left the bottle .... NEVER, EVER INVEST OT DEPOSIT MONEY ON THE ISLE OF MAN!

E. Rogers

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:38:23 -0500

Manx Herald web pages are now providing further interesting information about the activities if the Premier Low Risk Fund. What happened to the fifty page Dossiers of Evidence forwarded to the Chief Minister, John Aspden and Nicholas Black?

If you have more information/evidence to share why not comment? Remember to ALWAYS tell the truth, and only quote facts which are fully supported with documentary evidence. Don’t attempt to incriminate the “introducer” who received commission payments for hawking Premier’s misleading sales brochures. They are (maybe) as innocent as you and holding them responsible is exactly what the Isle of Man government and Premier’s directors want you to do so that all blame can be transferred onto them!

Colin hepper

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:09:13 -0500

Are the staff in the The Isle of Man ombudsman's office paid by the directors of the Premier Low Risk Fund? They seem to find every excuse possible to protect them and have little regard for the honest pensioners, many of which have lost teir life savings.