By DITA DE BONI
The Registrar of Companies has banned John Baylis and Willard Amaru from serving as directors or managers for the next five years.
The pair - sole directors and shareholders in the now-defunct IMI and Walakahai Pacific companies - were accused of financial wrongdoing after statutory managers were
called in to retrieve $8 million in investors' money funnelled into a labyrinth of family trusts, property and other personal assets.
About 200 investors - mostly from Wellington and Nelson - were promised up to 14 per cent a month returns on their investments, at seminars held by the men.
Investors have since been told they will get back just 15c in every dollar invested in the two companies.
Baylis and Amaru face charges of false pretences, misappropriating proceeds held under direction and conspiracy to defraud.
Under the Companies Act, they could be fined up to $200,000 or spend five years in prison if they breach the ban by the Registrar of Companies.
Last August, they were judged bankrupt.
Their lawyer, Nicolette Levy, said yesterday that she had no instructions to say anything about the case.
Inquiries by the Companies Office and statutory managers revealed that Baylis and Amaru used investors' money, through their companies, to finance loans and to buy items at highly inflated prices.
Reports by statutory manager David Crichton show that one property bought in Lower Hutt for $1 million had a Government valuation of $720,000.
An Oriental porcelain collection bought for $1 million and estimated by the two men to be worth about $7 million was later valued at less than $30,000.
The reports said about $80,000 was loaned to Onix International for its rescue of a "wealthy" businessman from an Indonesian jungle last year.
Other items bought included a Jaguar car, a stake in a treasure hunt in the Caribbean, real estate in Queensland - where $350,000 in funds disappeared - and loans to companies now in liquidation.
Of the $8 million obtained from investors, only 26 per cent went toward local and international investments capable of generating income.
For investors to receive their promised 200 per cent a year returns, it was estimated that the money invested by the men would have had to earn 1000 per cent.
Mr Crichton and Shane Keohane, manager of the national enforcement unit at the Companies Office, said that despite substantial evidence, Baylis and Amaru continued to believe that their management had nothing to do with the demise of either IMI or Walakahai.
Mr Keohane said the men had shown no remorse for the lost money and had contested their ban prohibition from company management or directorship.
The pair join more than 50 people banned from running companies in New Zealand, including Ewan Wilson from the failed Kiwi Air discount airline.
Another 42 candidates are being considered for the same penalty.
By DITA DE BONI
The Registrar of Companies has banned John Baylis and Willard Amaru from serving as directors or managers for the next five years.
The pair - sole directors and shareholders in the now-defunct IMI and Walakahai Pacific companies - were accused of financial wrongdoing after statutory managers were
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