Victory Life & Pension Assurance Company Limited - Public Statement No. 12 of 2014 (24 December 2014)

Public Statement No. 12 of 2014

24 December, 2014

PUBLIC STATEMENT

 VICTORY LIFE & PENSION ASSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED

Tortola, British Virgin Islands – 24 December, 2014 – The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (the "Commission") wishes to inform the public that on 25 November 2014, Russell Crumpler of KPMG (BVI) Limited, P.O. Box 4467, 3rd Floor Banco Popular Building, Road Town, Tortola VG 1110 and Mr. Kris Beighton of KPMG P.O. Box 493, Century Yard, Cricket Square, Grand Cayman, KY1-1106 were appointed joint liquidators of Victory Life & Pension Assurance Company Limited (the “Company”) by Order of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the High Court of Justice in the British Virgin Islands (Commercial Division).

The Commission sought the appointment of the Joint Liquidators in the public interest and on the just and equitable ground on account of serious regulatory breaches by the Company and because its principals no longer met the Commission’s fit and proper criteria.

The Joint Liquidators have issued a notice in the following terms:

“VICTORY LIFE & PENSION ASSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED 

(IN LIQUIDATION)

BVI COMPANY # 1448717

On 25 November 2014, Russell Crumpler of KPMG (BVI) Limited and Kris Beighton of KPMG in the Cayman Islands were appointed as the Joint Liquidators of Victory Life & Pension Assurance Company Ltd (“the Company”) by Order of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the High Court of Justice in the British Virgin Islands (“the BVI Court”).

The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission sought the appointment of the Joint Liquidators in response to concerns with respect to serious breaches of the Company’s regulatory obligations and the prosecution of two of the Company’s principals by the Swedish Economic Crime Authority.
 

On the appointment of the Joint Liquidators the powers of the Company’s directors ceased and complete control of the Company, including its assets, was assumed by the Joint Liquidators.

Please note that all power of attorney instruments previously issued by the Company became null and void as of the date of the appointment of the Joint Liquidators.

In order to ensure that the interests of the Company’s policyholders and other stakeholders are protected, the Joint Liquidators are conducting investigations into the Company’s affairs, including the legal basis on which its assets are held.

The BVI Court has directed that it is necessary to prevent transfers from and / or asset trading within all accounts maintained by the Company and its policyholders until the BVI Court can determine the position with regards to ownership, rights and control of each of those accounts.

If there are assets associated with policyholder policies that may be at risk of significant deterioration in value, those policyholders should contact the Joint Liquidators to discuss their concerns. The Joint Liquidators will review the position and to the extent able, work with policyholders to limit deterioration in value.

As soon as they are able to do so, the Joint Liquidators will apply to the BVI Court to determine the legal basis on which the Company’s assets are held, and, consequently, how those assets should be distributed. Before they can make this application, the Joint Liquidators and their BVI and Swedish legal advisors are completing a detailed review of the terms and conditions governing all of the policies issued by the Company as well as applicable laws.

Once the BVI Court reaches its determination, the Joint Liquidators will notify the policyholders of that decision. If a policyholder or group of policyholders disagrees with or wishes to challenge the determination reached by the BVI Court with respect to the segregation of the Company’s assets those policyholders will have the opportunity to do so.

The Joint Liquidators are providing regular updates to the BVI Financial Services Commission and Finansinspektionen and a copy of this notice is available on their websites.

The Joint Liquidators are also in contact with Jan Ahlstrom of Kjessler & Nolby Advokatbyra who continues in his role as the Company’s appointed legal representative in Sweden.

All enquiries with respect to the Company should be directed, as normal, to the Company’s administrator AssuranceService i Göteborg AB.

Alternatively, you can contact the Joint Liquidators at [email protected]. They can also be reached using the following details and they will respond to you by email or telephone as soon as possible:

The Joint Liquidators

KPMG (BVI) Limited

3rd Floor Banco Popular Building

PO Box 4467

Road Town, Tortola

British Virgin Islands

Fax: +1 284 494 9009

Email: [email protected]

Any queries about the Company should now be directed to the joint liquidators using the contact details in the Joint Liquidator’s statement, above.

The FSC has issued this Public Statement pursuant to Section 37A (1) and 37A(4) of the Financial Services Commission Act, 2001.