Mr James Shipton CHAIRMAN OF ASIC
We sold our house back in 2016 and invested in a well- advertised scheme where we moved into a leased property with promise of the interest from our investment paying our rent .It failed and we now have lost all our investment and we are obliged to pay our rent out of our pension which leaves us little to live on.
My complaint to you is that the company we invested in was Sterling New life and we understand that as far back as 2014 WA Consumer Affairs was not happy with the structure and advised ASIC of the probable problems.
It appears that ASIC did nothing to 1. Advise the people of a probable situation 2. Investigate the scheme 3. Bring the directors to task by asking for their business plan.
In our opinion ASIC has failed in their charter to investigate and to maintain proper control over this particular company and as such should be held responsible and accountable for this mess. Some 130 elderly couples finished up with no money, no security and possibly no home to live in.
We should never have been put in this situation if ASIC had performed due diligence with a more in depth investigation into the personnel who think up these self - money- making criminal schemes and appear to get away with it. We would like to think that at the very least they will be hounded by you until they receive the justice they deserve.
As we have stated in this letter ASIC has failed us as elderly Australian citizens leaving us with no other resources. As such we expect ASIC to pay us back the money we have lost due to lack of a proper investigation to a problem brought to your office attention some years earlier.
Your earliest and resolute investigation into this painful and stressing problem is expected ASAP .
Yours sincerely