United States Senate Oversight
The chairman of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Jason E. Chaffetz, exercised an on-the-spot subpoena to top Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) officials, demanding the full release of a document file.Chaffetz pointed out that he has the Constitutional right - to see every piece of the FBI’s investigative file, not just pages cherry-picked by the Bureau.
September 13th 2016
The Australian Oversight Committee need to learn from the USA
Australians deserves transparency into the information concerning the disappearance of $AUD 194.5m from the Astarra Strategic Fund and Trio Capital Limited (Trio) that is held by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
According to ASIC’s web site (last updated: 28/05/2015) ASIC note,
‘Trio invested some assets of the funds into a managed investment scheme, Astarra Strategic Fund. Most of its assets were directed into what were called hedge funds, located in the Caribbean. There is little, if any, credible evidence that the purported investments were actually made, or if they were, that they have any realisable value. Most of the assets invested were subsequently lost’.
Source: https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/media-centre/key-matters/trio-and-astarra
Successive Australian governments said they are satisfied, that in relation to Trio, both regulators carried out their roles and responsibilities appropriately, in accordance with the law and the regulatory framework.
However, victims of the crime allege that the government relied on the information made available by ASIC and APRA and also relied on the self-reporting by ASIC and APRA of which there are no publicly available inventories to show exactly what information was the basis for the government’s approval of the regulators. Superannuation in Australia is mandated, government can access the funds for large-scale projects, and if disaster strikes, it appears the regulators are checked behind closed doors for responsibility and accountability. Until there is transparency for the public to see whether the regulators carried out due diligence of Trio and its entities, then integrity remains questionable.