TVAL suspends sales

[paddo2002]

Hi all,

 

I was just visiting the TVAL website and I noticed a post at the top of the page. Is anyone aware of what is going on? They have an awesome collection of aircraft. It would be a shame to see them stop doing the marvelous job they do.

 

check it out here

 

http://thevintageaviator.co.nz/

 

 

[shafs64]

There site is impressive

 

 

[onetrack]

Sir Peter Jackson is being very tight-lipped about the problem - but I would hazard a guess that it is to do with employee fraud within the company operations. Not an uncommon problem, unfortunately.

 

My middle nephew Phil, runs a sizeable mining contracting business, and he employed a woman book-keeper for 3 days a week - while she worked 2 days a week for another contractor (a friend of Phil's).

 

This woman was a timid, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth type, and she was regarded as a family friend to Phil and his wife.

 

Yet she ripped him off for somewhere around $400,000 - $500,000 over several years, by redirecting payments to her own bank account.

 

She also ripped off the other contractor for about $900,000.

 

She got caught of course, when one creditor asked to be paid, and Phil was sure he'd been paid.

 

He then found the woman had been presenting accounts to be paid each month, Phil had been signing off on them - but she'd pocketed the payments, then submitted the same accounts the following month, to ensure they were paid.

 

She got 4 years jail, went bankrupt with no assets, and the cops found evidence she was a high roller at the casino, so there was nothing to be recovered.

 

Employee fraud has the potential to totally bankrupt a business, and the fraudsters are very clever at finding loopholes to line their pockets, without being discovered for a long time.

 

Thus, it's important to have tight financial procedures, and thorough checks and balances in place, in every operation where large sums of money are being handled.

 

Unfortunately, it becomes a huge, time-consuming job to try and unravel company fraud, as often, tens of thousands of documents, bank account transactions, and invoices, all have to be checked and traced - and often, manually as well.

 

Then the police usually become involved as well, and it gets even more complicated - and if the investigation covers more than one jurisdiction, it can get very protracted.

 

Finally, white-collar crime is very low on the various police forces agenda - many of whom are cash-strapped - so they aim first for the dumb crims involved in the simple violence crimes, to keep "the stats" looking good.

 

Sir Peter Jackson's replica vintage plane company suspends sales during investigation

 

TVAL has merely stated - "We look forward to resuming our normal service very soon."

 

Sir Peter is one of three shareholders in the company.

 

Michael Stephens, a director of the company, said the matter was "internal to the company", and something they were "working through at the moment".

 

"It's not something we think is relevant to news, it's an internal matter we are dealing with."

 

The company has not responded to further media enquiries.

 

 

[cooperplace]

I heard about a fraud in which an employee took over $250k, and the Vic police weren't interested: "get in line, we're busy chasing people who've stolen $20m" was their attitude. It eventually went thru the courts, perpetrator was bankrupt, no funds recovered. The message is: keep a close eye on anyone who is signing cheques for you.

 

The building industry is notorious for this stuff, usually it's materials siphoned off.

 

 

[facthunter]

Impressive work they do. Hope they keep going. NZ skill at it's best. You will find a lot of this type of thing is done in NZ. Amazing effort. Nev

 

 

[paddo2002]

The work they do is truly impressive. I have seen there wares on display at Omaka a number of times and they are amazing.

 

All I can say is that if it is internal fraud then that is a shame. This sort of thing can bring an entire operation down and one such as this, is too important.