Comments About Iconic NZ Company’s Failure Misleading

Media Statement

16th September 2014

Receiver’s Comments About Iconic NZ Company’s Failure Misleading

Mohammed Hanno, a major shareholder of an aerial mapping company that has been forced into liquidation, says that the Receiver’s interim report and comments published in the New Zealand media are inaccurate and misleading and is calling for a full investigation into the company’s affairs.

Mr Hanno, a director of NZ Aerial Mapping, which had carried out the country's aerial mapping for 78 years, points out that allegations about the reasons for the company’s failure in the Receivers’ First Report have not been audited or independently verified.

Mr Hanno says: `I am deeply upset that our loyal staff have been laid off and given inaccurate information about what has happened to their jobs. No account has been given for the millions of dollars I have injected into the business since 2005. This year alone I provided over a million dollars to keep this company solvent and yet I have been given no explanation by the New Zealand management as to where that money has gone.

‘I have received no adequate explanation from the company’s bankers why they increased the overdraft facility by $700,000 in April without my permission while I was overseas and then allowed the company’s local management to draw down on those funds. I want to know where that money has gone.

‘There are reports in the media that the company ran out of cash, with $1.5 million in payments outstanding from contracts in Saudi Arabia. This is untrue as only the first stage of that contract has been completed so far. The ten per cent interim payment for that work is being processed by the clients and is not overdue. If the business was allowed to continue the work would be completed and we could invoice the clients but we cannot expect to be paid for work that hasn’t yet been done.

‘Not only that, the New Zealand management has not taken into account taxes that need to paid on this income overseas. I believe that the Receiver has been misinformed about the company’s situation and am very unhappy that the Receiver appears to have passed on this unsubstantiated information to the media and taken the easy route of blaming overseas factors for what is clearly a New Zealand problem.’

Mr Hanno plans to instigate a thorough investigation into how the company has been managed during his absence.

ENDS

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