High-profile block where scrapped luxury resort was set to go now under contract
Shire property
A prime Port Douglas property intricately linked to a scandal involving the disappearance of millions of dollars in superannuation funds has been placed under contract.
The pending possible sale comes as former top executive Paul Chiodo - who has links to both the Shield Master Fund where more than 5000 investors have lost an average of about $160,000, and a now-scrapped $300m Port Douglas Fairmont Resort planned for the about 2ha vacant block at 71-85 Port Douglas Road - released a statement to Newsport rejecting claims made last week in a federal Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services.
“Paul Chiodo has not been banned from providing financial services,” the statement reads.
“He has not been charged by ASIC.”
During the parliamentary committee hearing, Labor MP Tania Lawrence asked Sarah Court, the deputy chair of financial industry regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, if several key players in the scandal, including Mr Chiodo, had been banned by ASIC from working in finance.
“Can they continue operating in the financial services sector?” she asked.
“Can they continue operating as company directors as of today?”
Ms Court replied: “I don't think that any of those… individuals that you've mentioned are able to continue in the financial services sector as we speak at the moment, for a range of different reasons.”
The statement on behalf of Mr Chiodo also sought to clarify whether investors who had lost their superannuation in the collapse of the SMF would receive any money from the Port Douglas Road property sale.
“The liquidator is in charge of the Shield Master Fund assets and the proceeds of property sales must first be used to pay creditors, not investors,” the statement reads.
About $200m remains frozen by ASIC as it aims to prosecute a range of people involved in the disappearance of the superannuation funds.
The parliamentary joint committee heard last week more than 5000 people had lost money in a “slick operation” involving the SMF and other financial service providers.
The committee heard ASIC was working hard to have some money returned to people who had lost, in some cases, their life savings - which included selling off the Port Douglas Road block via receivers Alvarez & Marsal and commercial agents Colliers Cairns.
The Colliers Cairns agent in charge of the land sale has been contacted for comment.
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