Swiss court begins search for Rene Rivkin’s millions

A COURT case has been launched in Switzerland to recover millions of dollars that mysteriously left stockbroker Rene Rivkin’s bank account after he died in 2005.

Just days after it became public that the corporate regulator had ended its investigation into the Offset Alpine affair, it has emerged that the Rivkin estate, controlled by bankruptcy trustees Anthony Warner and Steven Kugel, has been given the green light to pursue one of Rivkin’s Swiss bankers for making “unauthorised transactions”.

Mr Warner told The Australian yesterday that after trawling through Rivkin’s bank account details he had on Friday received news from Switzerland that he could proceed with the claim.

It is understood Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman Tony D’Aloisio decided four weeks ago to end the legal battle to uncover who owned the parcel of Offset Alpine shares that soared in value after a fire at the company’s Sydney printing plant in 1993.

Trevor Kennedy, a former Qantas director, was told two weeks ago of the decision and his friends believe he has been unfairly pursued and his business interests have suffered as a result of the investigation.

“It is a very sad indictment on law enforcement in Australia,” said one friend yesterday, “that someone of Trevor’s prominence has had to live the last seven years of his life in limbo, without any claim or charge being made.”

One of the longest-running investigations on ASIC’s books, the Offset Alpine investigation began in 2003 after revelations that Rivkin had told Swiss prosecutors that he, Mr Kennedy and Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson were the owners of a secret parcel of Offset Alpine shares. A fire on Christmas Eve 1993 triggered a massive insurance payment and a surge in the share price. Mr Kennedy told ASIC he knew nothing of the shareholding and Mr Richardson also denied ownership.

ASIC was looking at possible perjury charges and also civil charges into not declaring share ownership.

But in recent years ASIC has not discovered any smoking guns despite spending millions of dollars tracking down documents all around the world.

Rivkin died in 2005, Mr Richardson was no longer a serious target and ASIC homed in on Mr Kennedy.

Last November, The Australian learned that Swiss authorities had rejected Australia’s latest request for further documents. ASIC had already received a huge bundle of documents, but they did not prove anything.

The following month, court proceedings in the Isle of Man became tense when ASIC was accused of a “further major change in its position”, described as “at best, highly confused, inconsistent and deeply unsatisfactory”.

The Australian has uncovered some sympathy for ASIC in the English courts, with a judge saying last year “it is a total disgrace that as a result of Mr Hafner’s intervention in these proceedings there has been such a huge delay in the transmission of evidence to Australia for many years”. Benno Hafner was Rivkin’s Swiss lawyer.

The dropping by ASIC of the Offset Alpine investigation is viewed by some in the business community as a shrewd decision.

After the losses in the One.Tel and Fortescue Metals cases, ASIC took a long look at Offset.

Mr D’Aloisio has restructured the litigation department since his appointment and worked hard to secure insider trading and market manipulation charges.

Yesterday, one observer said of his decision: “He has had the courage to do what is correct.”

by Susannah Moran, The Australian, May 31, 2010 12:00AM