Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
7 JULY 2016

What’s Going on at Silver Fern Farms?

The cracks are showing in Silver Fern Farms, with its Chief Financial Officer Rob Woodgate, resigning less than a week after the co-op’s three-month sale extension to China’s Shanghai Maling.

“Another week, another bombshell and among them is Silver Fern Farms’ Chief Financial Officer Rob Woodgate quitting,” Mr Peters said.

“Before he goes, maybe he could explain his 50:50 shareholding in Silver Fern Farms Management Trustee Limited along with the Silver Fern Farms’ ‘Chief Executive Officer,’ Dean Hamilton.

“Their company, because they are the shareholders, was set up on 23 November, 2015, and lists Silver Fern Farms’ address as the registered office but the co-op has zero shareholding.

“Then we get to the Crown Entity, the External Reporting Board, which sets New Zealand’s accounting standards. One of its board members, Jane Taylor, is also a Director of Silver Fern Farms and represented the co-op at the Financial Markets Authority on 6 May, 2016.

“Yet Minister of Commerce Paul Goldsmith sees no issue in this. So he must excuse the Financial Markets Authority’s Chief Executive, Rob Everett, ruling out use of its investigative s34 powers on 28 April 2016 – a full working week before they even met with Silver Fern Farms?

“Maybe the External Reporting Board, FMA and the Companies Office can explain to us the accounting standard allowing Silver Fern Farms to list a 50% shareholding and book value for Livestock Logistics over five audited annual reports, when that shareholding did not exist until 2015?

“While they’re at it, we’d like to know the accounting standard Silver Fern Farms used to code as “cartage,” ‘notifications for an advance’ to Livestock Logistics totalling over $157,000 for wages and rent?”

ends

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