Inquiry into Trio fraud must be re-opened

03 November 2014

Member for Throsby, Stephen Jones has today written to the Chairs of the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Corporations and Financial Services and the Senate Standing Committee on Economics, urging the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Collapse of Trio Capital be re-opened.

Recent reports by Fairfax allege that millions stolen from Illawarra investors was used to cover commitments of a growth fund on Sydneys North Shore.

Mr Jones has asked that either the Joint Committee re-open the Inquiry into the Collapse of Trio Capital, or the Senate Economics Committee, inquire into specific allegations that have been made after the Joint Committee published its report.

This request is consistent with the approach I took on this matter under the former Government, said Jones.

If these reports include information that has not been before the Inquiry, that information should be held to the same scrutiny as evidence previously submitted.

The matters must be properly investigated.

Mr Jones also pressed the Abbott Government to deliver on its pre-election promise to the Trio victims.

Before the election, then Shadow Finance Minister Mathias Cormann made a commitment that an Abbott Government would facilitate compensation, said Jones.

In May 2013 he said, there would be some justification for a level of compensationfor the victims in the Trio Capital case.

This was after a press release issued on 26 April, 2012 where Cormann criticised Labors response saying,It is completely unacceptable that Bill Shorten has taken nearly a year to consider this report by a key parliamentary committee and even now only just provided a preliminary response.

Well, it has been well over a year since the federal election, even longer since the Finance Minister made his commitments to the Trio victims, and still nothing has been done, said Jones.

Minister Cormann must honour his promise to investors.

The Government must not stand in the way of investigations into new allegations concerning the Trio fraud and re-open the Parliamentary Inquiry as a matter of priority.