Showing posts sorted by relevance for query lot 99. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query lot 99. Sort by date Show all posts

Sunday 18 February 2024

Does NSW Premier Chris Minns, his Environment Minister Penny Sharpe or Agricultural Minister Tara Moriarty ever wonder just whose interests the forestry brands that lobby them conceal from view?


“Put the foresters back in charge of the forests.” 

Malcolm David McComb, Pentarch Group, quoted in The Monthly, November 2020


According to the 'privately-owned' Melbourne-based PENTARCH GROUP it commenced business in 1984, combining the expertise of five individuals with diverse commercial backgrounds. In the early 1990s, the group’s primary focus was on three key businesses - representing major international manufacturers of military hardware, exporting containerised hay to Japan, and exporting softwood logs to South Korea - through its Industrial, Forestry and Agricultural divisions.


By 2019 the Group was managing over 8,000ha of land - with est. 30 per cent of the defined forest area being native forest. 


That year NSW Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for Forestry John Barilaro announced Pentarch Logistics Pty Ltd was receiving a $3 million grant to drive innovation and technology advancements in the NSW forestry industry.


In August 2021 the Group purchased the assets of Dormit Pty Ltd which operated two sawmills and associated operations located at Dandenong South and Swifts Creek in Victoria. That same year Boral divested its timber business to the Group in October 2021. Allen Taylor & Company, Duncan’s Holdings and their subsidiaries (collectively known as Boral Timber) now trade under the brand Pentarch ForestryThis acquisition saw Pentarch add eight sawmills, including part ownership of the Highland Pine mill at Oberon, to allegedly become the largest hardwood processor in NSW.


Pentarch Forestry exports in excess of 800,000tn per annum of plantation softwood and hardwood from Australian and New Zealand ports. This division is actively involved in forestry harvesting and haulage; port logistics including marshalling, storage and stevedoring; and international marketing and shipping.


These days its forestry division boasts that its key woodchip and logs export destinations are; China, India, Japan, Korea and the Middle East. While its sawn timbers are listed as being sourced from; Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia. 


By 2022 the Pentarch Group operated 20 sites nationally with a high concentration of timber mills in NSW.


The Pentarch Group clearly states:

Timber sustainably sourced from our native forests is our most valuable and precious resource and Pentarch Forestry™ takes pride in finding ways to better use every part of that resource.


In particular Pentarch Forestry harvests Tasmanian hardwood logs from the north-west of that state and timber from native forests (including privately-owned native forest) on land around Nungatta, Mila & Delegate in NSW, as well as from Combienbar, Murrangower & Bendoc in Victoria and, apparently sees itself as helping to protect and manage a large permanent native forest estate.


[Mapping at https://pentarchforestry.com.au/sustainability-environment/sustainable-forest-management/]


The Group's milled native timber is ending up as everything from solid timber floor boards through to mass produced wooden pallets for industry and woodchips as a secondary product.


Its offices can be found at 18 different locations across five states. [See list & details at end of this post]


In its April 2022 submission to the NSW Legislative Council's INQUIRY INTO LONG TERM SUSTAINABILITY AND FUTURE OF THE TIMBER AND FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY, Pentarch advocated for the permanent retention of multiuse State Forest. Also expressing a sense of frustration that the forestry industry had not been allowed carte blanche to clear the 2019-20 native forest fire grounds of all suitable timber. Apparently a firm believer in a forest restoration harvesting process. Leaving this reader with the suspicion that the Pentarch Group belongs to the 'lets keep the forest floor tidy' brigade.


2022 was also the year that Pentarch Forestry Pty Ltd had  its Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sustainability certification (first obtained in 2017) suspended when a renewal audit found that Pentarch’s due diligence system was out of date, regrowth native forest and plantation wood were at risk of being mixed together, and threatened species assessments were not being done.


Prime Minister Scott Morrison & Chairman Pentarch Group Malcolm McComb. IMAGE: Merimbula News Weekly, 23 June 2020





Despite the apparent ease of access to political decision makers large forestry corporations appear to enjoy at federal & state government level, this apparently doesn't satisfy all in the industry that their voices are the loudest. 


The Pentarch Group chairman also reportedly co-founded Forest and Wood Communities Australia which has a dedicated website, a Facebook page and an X/Twitter account with the less than subtle principal aim of pushing back against so-called "environmental extremists", "ideological idiocy", criticising the Victorian Government and pressuring the NSW Minns Labor Government. The social media accounts in particular have a tendency to mislead.


The faces fronting the Pentarch Group are on display at:

http://www.pentarch.com.au/pentarch_team.html.


However, the principal corporations in this group are very careful to conceal shareholder identities - all shares in the following three registered companies are beneficially held by the companies on behalf of unnamed individuals/corporations.


Although it is not hard to imagine that the Sedger, McComb, Yuncken, Cuthbertson and Dadd families might properly feature heavily on the shareholder list - along with a discreet number of self-managed super funds, investment entities and trusts. It is also not hard to imagine that the 'hidden' nature of such shareholder lists might potentially contain conflicts of interest for state and local governments dealing with the forestry industry.


It is noted that the Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Energy, Minister for Environment and Minister for Heritage, Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Regional NSW and Minister for Western NSW and the NSW Treasurer were meeting in 2023 with members of the forestry industry concerning what was loosely described as "forestry industry reform" and "forestry matters".


~~~~~~~~~~



PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD

ACN: 064 165 635

ABN: 21064165635

Registered in: Victoria

Registration date: 31/03/1994

Registered address & principal place of business:

'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street,

SOUTHBANK VIC 3006


Directors:

MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)

IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)

FRASER JEFFREY CUTHBERTSON (Victoria)

STEPHEN GORDON DADD (NSW)

Company Secretary:

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN


Shares issued:

Ordinary Shares - 1,438 Fully Paid

  • 838 Beneficially held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

  • 600 Beneficially held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD


Current roles in the following organisations:


PENTARCH PERMACULTURE & CARBON PTY LTD

ACN: 661 995 035

ABN: 98661995035

Address: Unknown


OCEAN2EARTH PTY LTD

ACN: 663 110 629

ABN: 71663110629

Address: Unknown


Current shares and interests in:


*675,000 CLASS I SHARES & 1,125,000 CLASS

N_SHARES Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: SOUTH EAST FIBRE EXPORTS PTY LTD

ACN: 000 604 795

ABN: 85000604795

Address: Unit 1, 250 Charman Road, CHELTENHAM VIC 3192


*600 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: PENTARCH HOLDINGS PTY. LTD

ACN: 064 165 635

ABN: 21064165635

Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006


*96,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: ALLIED NATURAL WOOD ENTERPRISES PTY LTD

ACN: 607 144 089

ABN: 65607144089

Address: Jews Head Edrom Road, EDEN NSW 2551


*96,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: SAPPHIRE FORESTS PTY LTD

ACN: 607 256 780

ABN: 85607256780

Address: Jews Head Edrom Road, EDEN NSW 2551


*10,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: ALLIED NATURAL WOOD EXPORTS (TAS) PTY LTD

ACN: 619 876 345

ABN: 23619876345

Address: Jews Head, EDROM NSW 2551


*1,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: FORESTS IN PERPETUITY PTY LTD

ACN: 639 068 732

ABN: 84639068732

Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006


*73,740 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

ACN: 094 390 271

ABN: 88094390271

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006


*10,000 Ordinary Shares Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: PENTARCH PERMACULTURE & CARBON PTY LTD

ACN: 661 995 035

ABN: 98661995035

Address: Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006


~~~~~~~~~~


PENTARCH HOLDINGS PTY. LTD

ACN: 064 165 635

ABN: 21064165635

Registered in: Victoria

Registration date: 31/03/1994

Registered address & principal place of business:

'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street,

SOUTHBANK VIC 3006


Directors:

MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)

IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)

FRASER JEFFREY CUTHBERTSON (Victoria)

STEPHEN GORDON DADD (NSW)

Company Secretary:

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN


Shares issued:

Ordinary Shares - 1,438 Fully Paid

  • 838 Beneficially Held by: TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

  • 600 Beneficially Held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD


Ultimate holding company for:


PENTARCH FOREST PRODUCTS PTY LTD

ACN: 059 465 879

ABN: 57059465879

Address: Level 2, 121-123 High Street, PRAHRAN VIC 3181


ARI LEASING PTY. LTD

ACN: 072 963 798

ABN: 77072963798

Address: Unknown


PENTARCH LOGISTICS PTY LTD

ACN: 075 432 254

ABN: 99075432254

Address: Level 2, 121-123 High Street, PRAHRAN VIC 3181


PENTARCH AGRICULTURAL PTY LTD

ACN: 101 274 613

ABN: 45101274613

Address: "KINGS GARDEN ESTATE", Level 1, 99 Coventry

Street, SOUTH MELBOURNE VIC 3205


SAPPHIRE HAULAGE PTY LTD

ACN: 132 292 436

ABN: 55132292436

Address: Unknown


NARROGIN HAY PTY LTD

ACN: 104 157 593

ABN: 73104157593

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006


PENTARCH STEVEDORING PTY LTD

ACN: 108 439 185

ABN: 53108439185

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006


MALLEE HAY PTY LTD

ACN: 123 956 089

ABN: 78123956089

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006


PENTARCH FARMS PTY LTD

ACN: 123 956 105

ABN: 97123956105

Address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006


~~~~~~~~~~


TIMBER AUDITS & TECHNOLOGY PTY LTD

ACN: 094 390 271

ABN: 88094390271

Registered in: Victoria

Registration date: 06/09/2000

Registered address & principal place of business:

Registered address: 'Kings Garden Estate' Level 1, 99 Coventry Street, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006


Directors:

MALCOLM DAVID MCCOMB (Victoria)

IAN KENNETH SEDGER (Victoria)

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN (Victoria)

Company Secretary:

SIMON JOHN YUNCKEN


Shares issued:

Ordinary Shares - 73,740 Fully Paid

Beneficially held by: PENTARCH GROUP PTY LTD


~~~~~~~~~~



Pentarch Group offices current as of 17.02.24:


TASMANIA


Massy Greene Drive

South Burnie, Tas, 7320

PO Box 3033

Ph: 03 6430 7333


VICTORIA


Level 1, 99 Coventry Street

Southbank, Vic, 3006

Ph: 03 9621 7900


Great Alpine Road,

Swifts Creek, Vic, 3896

Ph: 03 5159 4438


98 Indian Drive

Keysborough, Vic, 3173

Ph: 1800 818 317


96-106 Ordish Road,

Dandenong, Vic, 3175

Ph: 03 9706 5744


QUEENSLAND


838 Nudgee Road

Northgate, Qld, 4013

Ph: 1800 818 317


Suite 12 Level 1,

84 Wises Road

Maroochydore, Qld, 4558

PO Box 5561

Ph: 1800 818 317


SOUTH AUSTRALIA


176-178 Magill Road

Norwood, SA, 5067

Ph: 1800 818 317


NEW SOUTH WALES


Eden Log Export Facility

Lot 2, Edrom Road

Eden, NSW, 2551

Ph: 02 6496 0252

Eden, NSW


Eden Chip Export Terminal

Edrom Road, Jews Head

Eden, NSW, 2551

Ph: 02 6496 0222


420 Herons Creek Road

Herons Creek, NSW, 2443

Ph: 02 6585 7188


43 Mill Road

Koolkhan, NSW, 2460

PO Box 437

Ph: 02 6644 7280


13056 Summerland Way

Kyogle, NSW, 2474

PO Box 187

Ph: 02 6632 1866


148 Tweed Valley Way

Murwillumbah, NSW, 2484

PO Box 56

Ph: 02 6670 8700


6016/6018 Princess Highway

Narooma, NSW, 2546

PO Box 75

Ph: 02 4476 7908


Unit D1, Regents Park Estate

391 Park Road

Regents Park, NSW, 2143

Ph: 1800 818 317


50 BTU Road

South Nowra, NSW, 2541

PO Box 5014

Ph: 02 4447 8262



PRINCIPAL SOURCES:




Tuesday 15 November 2016

Clarence Valley Council announces Section 55 amendment to application for SUB2015/0034 a 162 lot subdivision at Lot 99 Hickey Street, Iluka


On 10 November 2016 Clarence Valley Council sent out by email a letter dated 7 November 2016 concerning a development application being determined by the Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel:

Redesigned subdivision plan for 157 lot development:

NOTE: This is not the plan sent with the official notification email. This final plan was sent by a second email 4 days later - cutting the time in which a submission based on accurate information could be created by a total of 7 submission period days.


Previous subdivision plan for 162 lot development:




Note: Streetscape plantings are indicative only and were not part of the development application.

Amended DA documents can be viewed and download here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fo7a1wml2tak7xf/SUB2015-0034%20Amended%20Application%20Documents.pdf?dl=0

A brief history of the development application here.

Sunday 6 March 2016

The "Bob Jelly Gazette" has its say on an Iluka development application


Below is a copy of an excerpt from the March 2016 newsletter put out by Iluka resident, Graeme Lynn and his small group of predominately enthusiastic pro-development fellow travellers calling themselves the Ratepayers Association of Iluka Inc.

Mr. Lynn, who besides being president of this particular ratepayers association and president of the Iluka Golf Club, is also a real estate agent.  

Readers may him remember from this premature online advertising of the proposed 162 lot subdivision at Lot 99 Hickey Street:


Local readers might enjoy comparing this North Coast Voices post with the ‘facts’ set out in the “Bob Jelly Gazette*:

The Ratepayers Association of Iluka Inc is the second lobby group formed in Iluka (the first being the Association of Iluka Residents A.I.R. incorporated in 1998) and, appears to be listed on the Australian Securities and Investment Commission website under a different name to that on the newsletter - i.e. the Ratepayers & Residents Association Of Iluka Incorporated (2007).

This is not the first time that the ratepayers group has talked of this particular subdivision. It was discussed at some length at an afternoon meeting on or about 1 February 2016 and, I believe that meeting was attended by Clarence Valley councillors, Jim Simmons and Andrew Baker.

It is my understanding that Graeme Lynn chaired this meeting, spoke at some length about the development application and answered questions from the floor on the subject. Although I cannot be certain that everyone at the meeting was aware that he apparently has an expectation of handling at least some of the lot sales if this Hickey Street subdivision goes ahead.

Mr. Lynn also shamelessly played ducks and drakes with dates and numbers in a letter to the editor on the subject in The Daily Examiner on 14 January 2016:

Facts next time**

I read Annie Dorrian's letter to the editor (January 12) and I believe the letter should have started with 'once upon a time'.

Annie is having a go at council saying there is not enough time to research and prepare a submission or even comment on the DA even after the submission deadline has been extended to February 12, making a grand total of 50 days.

With 11 days taken out when access to all the documents were not available in Iluka it still adds up to 39 days.

Statutory regulation gives a minimum of 14 days so I think council and the developer have been rather generous.

Now for the signs that were placed on the land on Christmas Eve 2013 they were simply stating a DA application was forthcoming and expressions of interest were invited. Nothing sinister or illegal about that Annie.

The only reasons the signs were removed is because almost nightly mindless morons vandalised the signs until they were unrepairable.

The statement saying the land is a corridor between two national parks, well I found one but the 2nd one must be well hidden because it doesn't exist.

The land abounding this development to the south is zoned residential, the land to the west residential, the land to the north residential and 6A open space, which is the golf course, with the national park being to the east of the road into town.

Why would you want a corridor anyway between the two as I am sure you have heard of road kill.

Annie also states that it could increase the population by up to 500 people, which may be true but she failed to say this could take anywhere from 30 to 50 years to happen.
Just look at Sovereign Street and see how many vacant blocks there are after nearly two decades.

I don't know what Annie's motives are in writing her letter but next time it should be factual instead of the once upon a time story she wrote.

Graeme Lynn, Iluka

His letter drew this response a few days later in the same newspaper:

Negative impacts

My husband and I have been holidaying at Iluka this week. What a special place.

The house we were staying in had a copy of your paper from January 14th. In it there was a letter from Graeme Lynn. Graeme was addressing a letter from Annie Dorrian.

Through the eyes of an objective onlooker it is easy to see that every paragraph about Graeme's letter was defensive to the point where I ask myself, "Does Graeme have a vested interest in the proposed development going ahead?".

Adding 25% to the Iluka population whether now or into the future will have definite negative impacts on this beautiful part of a wondrous coastline.


Meg Leathart, Coonabarabran

FOOTNOTES

Robert James 'Bob' Jelly is a fictional pro-development real estate agent and comic character played by actor John Howard in the long running ABC series Sea Change which ended in December 2000.

** Annie Dorian's letter to the editor, 16 January 2016:

162-lot subdivision

There are many questions about this subdivision.

Is it really honest for the Council's Environment, Planning and Community director to say they have already doubled the statutory exhibition period of 14 days (Daily Examiner 5.1.16) when the council rooms at both Maclean and Grafton were closed until the January 3, effectively reducing the length of time to read over 400 pages in 11 days?

Why was the DA not available on the council website or even in Iluka?

Thanks to community pressure the DA is now available at the Iluka Library which is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Thanks to even more community pressure and media attention the submission date to comment has been extended to 4pm on February 12. Still not enough time to read, research and prepare a submission or even comment on the DA. We must have informed community scrutiny and enough time to do it.

Many people in Iluka are questioning the timing of the DA release on Christmas Eve and the fact that large signs on the Iluka Road advertised this development on Christmas Eve 2013.The signs were subsequently removed.

How is this possible or even legal before a DA has even been approved ?

Journalist Tim Howard's story states The Stevens Group acknowledges some environmental issues within this site.

Quite an understatement by the developer considering it is not just 'opposite a golf course' but adjacent to one of the last remnants of littoral rain forest in NSW and also a corridor between two national parks.

Large numbers of bird watchers, scientists and photographers frequent Iluka in the off season for the very reason that Iluka is unique and still home to more than 200 species of birds alone.
Do we really want to spoil this quiet, beautiful, unique place by increasing the population by up to 500, along with god knows how many more cars, cats and dogs.

If the community do want an increase in population this is the perfect opportunity for a developer to have a state of the art, sustainable, environmentally friendly development with stringent safeguards for native flora and fauna and larger house sites.

Any resident wishing to comment directly to the Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel can do so online as well as a submission to Clarence Valley Council.

Annie Dorrian, Iluka

Saturday 5 March 2016

Fire on contentious Iluka development application site




This instance brings to mind certain Lower Clarence Valley fires (and other attempts at illegal land clearing over the last twenty years) which have sprung up on subdivision lands containing either koala habitat or tree/plant biodiversity considered worth protecting. Urban legend has it that these fires can be lit for the price of a carton of beer.

I would like to think the photographs above represent kids playing with matches and not arson by an adult. Hopefully I won't be proven wrong by a second attempt to set the bush alight on Lot 99, which is land found in the 162 lot development application SUB2015/0034 currently before the Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel for initial determination.

Saturday 25 February 2017

"Blinky Bill" visits a couple of Iluka residents in February 2017




Delightful video and photograph of a koala in Spenser Street, Iluka NSW, by Lisa Shaw from the Green Room café at Iluka.

Ken Nicholl from Iluka Landcare transferred this little koala to a koala food tree next door.


An Iluka resident tells me that this koala was approximately 1km from the proposed subdivision of Lot 99 Hickey Street, Iluka, a parcel of land which also reportedly contains koala food trees.

Saturday 5 November 2016

Only days until American's go to the polls in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election and eyes turned towards Russia again


This was Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, on the campaign trail via Twitter 7 days out from polling day:
It's time for Trump to answer serious questions about his ties to Russia. https://t.co/D8oSmyVAR4 pic.twitter.com/07dRyEmPjX
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 31, 2016

This is the person who appears to have registered trump1.contact-client.com which is the server alleged to have possible links with the Russian-based Alfa Bank co-founded
by billionaire Mikhail Fridman:


Whois details for trump1.contact-client.com:

Website Title
  Cendyn/ONE | Data Intelligence™ for Hotels and Resorts
Server Type
Server
Response Code
200
SEO Score
91%
Terms
193 (Unique: 133, Linked: 82)
Images
4 (Alt tags missing: 4)
Links
56   (Internal: 44, Outbound: 8)
Whois Record ( last updated on 2016-11-01 )
Domain Name: CONTACT-CLIENT.COM
Registry Domain ID: 123709352_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Update Date: 2011-07-18T04:28:07Z
Creation Date: 2004-06-29T14:41:05Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2021-06-28T14:41:05Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@godaddy.com

Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4806242505
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID: Not Available From Registry
Registrant Name: Charles Deyo
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: 1515 N. Federal Hwy
Registrant City: Boca Raton
Registrant State/Province: Florida
Registrant Postal Code: 33432
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone:
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: 
nocontactsfound@ecureserver.net
Registry Admin ID: Not Available From Registry
Admin Name: Charles Deyo
Admin Organization:
Admin Street: 1515 N. Federal Hwy
Admin City: Boca Raton
Admin State/Province: Florida
Admin Postal Code: 33432
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: 561-555-3143
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: 

Registry Tech ID: Not Available From Registry
Tech Name: Charles Deyo
Tech Organization:
Tech Street: 1515 N. Federal Hwy
Tech City: Boca Raton
Tech State/Province: Florida
Tech Postal Code: 33432
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: 561-555-3143
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: emcmullin@cendyn.com

Name Server: NS3.CDCSERVICES.COM
Name Server: NS2.CDCSERVICES.COM
Name Server: NS1.CDCSERVICES.COM

Alfa Bank has issued a denial:

01 November 2016

Alfa Bank says no connection between Alfa Bank and Trump and any suggestion to the contrary is false —

Earlier today in the US, Slate published an article titled - Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia? Alfa Bank wishes to make clear that there is no connection between Alfa Bank and Donald Trump, the Trump campaign, or the Trump organization. Any suggestion to the contrary by this article is false.

Alfa Bank hired Mandiant, one of the world's foremost US cyber security experts, to investigate and it has found nothing to support the allegations. Mandiant found no substantive contact, email or financial link between Alfa Bank and the Trump Campaign or Organization during its investigation. Mandiant have conducted a deep dive and investigated Alfa Bank's IT systems both remotely and on the ground in Moscow and there was no evidence of notable contact between the alerted domain and Alfa Bank.

Neither Alfa Bank nor its principals, including Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, have or have had any contact with Mr. Trump or his organizations. Fridman and Aven have never met Mr. Trump nor have they or Alfa Bank had any business dealings with him. Neither Alfa Bank nor its officers have sent Mr. Trump or his organisation any emails, information or money. Alfa Bank does not have and has never had any special or exclusive internet connection with Mr. Trump or his entities. The assertion of a special or private link is patently false.

Mandiant has made clear to Alfa Bank that the information reporters gave us – given to them by an anonymous cyber group - is inconclusive and does not suggest an exclusive internet connection between Alfa Bank and Trump.

Mandiant's working hypothesis is that the activity the reporters' sources allege was caused by email marketing/spam campaign by a marketing server, which triggered security software. This activity may indeed have been initiated by someone for the purpose of discrediting parties to this traffic.

Commenting on these allegations Mandiant said Mandiant, a FireEye company, has been retained by Alfa Bank to investigate information given to them by various media. The information that has been presented is a list of dates, times, IP Addresses and Domain Names. The list appears to be a scanned copy of a printed log. There is no information which indicates where the list has come from. The list contains approx. 2800 look ups of a Domain Name over a period of 90 days. The information presented is inconclusive and is not evidence of substantive contact or a direct email or financial link between Alfa Bank and the Trump Campaign or Organization. The list presented does not contain enough information to show that there has been any actual activity opposed to simple DNS look ups, which can come from a variety of sources including anti-spam and other security software.

As part of the ongoing investigation, Alfa Bank has opened its IT systems to Mandiant, which has investigated both remotely and on the ground in Moscow. We are continuing our investigation. Nothing we have or have found alters our view as described above that there isn't evidence of substantive contact or a direct email or financial link between Alfa Bank and the Trump Campaign or Organization.

Founded in 1990, Alfa-Bank is one of the largest private banks in Russia, which offers a wide range of products and operates in all sectors of the financial market, including interbank, corporate and retail lending, deposits, payment and account services, foreign exchange operations, cash handling services, investment banking, and trade finance, as well as other ancillary services to corporate and retail customers.
According to its IFRS Consolidated Financial Statements as of 31 December 2015, the Alfa Banking Group, which comprises Joint Stock Company Alfa-Bank as well as its subsidiary financial companies, had total assets of $31.5 bn, gross loans of $21.7 bn, and total equity of $4.3 bn. Net profit after tax for 2015 amounted to $480 mln.
As of December 31, 2015 the Alfa Banking Group serves around 255,000 corporate customers and 13.6 mln individuals (including 1.9 mln individual customers of PJSC «Baltiyskiy Bank»), while the branch network consists of 745 offices across Russia and abroad, including a subsidiary bank in the Netherlands and financial subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Cyprus.

However, apart from this unsubstantiated allegation, Donald Trump does appear to have longstanding ties with Russia according to The Washington Post on 27 July 2016:

6. On Wednesday morning, CBS's Norah O'Donnell asked Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort if Trump had "financial relationships with any Russian oligarchs." Manafort replied, "That's what he said, that's what I said. That's obviously what our position is."

7. The problem is that Donald Trump has in the past had obvious economic interests in Russia. The Washington Post outlined them in June.

8. A quote in that piece from Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr. — who is also an executive with Trump's business — makes clear how the company in 2008 sought business from wealthy Russians. "In terms of high-end product influx into the U.S., Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets," he said at a conference that year, according to news reports. "We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."

9. The year prior, Trump said in a deposition that "Russia is one of the hottest places in the world for investment," and that he planned to "be in Moscow at some point."

10. Donald Jr. also described what it took to do business in the country. "Russia is just a different world," he reportedly said. "Though the legal structure is in place for what we have today, and even 99 percent is covered, that 1 percent not covered could be 100 percent covered over there because it is a question of who knows who, whose brother is paying off who, etc."

11. Our article also delineated a number of other known Trump business links to Russia, including:
* A 1987 trip to Moscow, then still part of the Soviet Union, to find a site for a luxury hotel.
* A 1996 effort to build a condominium complex in the country.
* A 2005 push to convert an old pencil factory into another Trump Tower.
* The 2008 sale of a mansion in Palm Beach to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev.
* Partnering with Aras Agalarov, the "Trump of Russia," on a project in Moscow in 2013 that didn't come to fruition.
* Hosting the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013, when he still owned it, earning a cut of the money spent to lure it there — including some from Agalarov.

12. Part of the problem for Trump is that he seems to be unusually friendly with Putin.

Donald J. Trump 
Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow - if so, will he become my new best friend?

13. As columnist Marcus Hawkins noted on Twitter, Trump has backed away from past assertions that he has a close relationship with Putin.

14. During a Republican debate in November, Trump said that "I got to know him very well because we were both on "60 Minutes," we were stablemates, and we did very well that night."

15. In an interview with a local station in Miami on Tuesday, Trump changed his story, as Hawkins notes. "I have nothing to do with Russia, nothing to do, I never met Putin, I have nothing to do with Russia whatsoever," he said. Asked if he had any outstanding loans from Russian banks or investors, Trump replied, "Absolutely not. It's ridiculous." It was advantageous in November to seem close to Putin; it is disadvantageous to be seen that way now.
Update: In 2014, Trump said he met Putin and that he spoke "directly and indirectly" with him.

16. Let's loop back to Trump's tweet about how he has "ZERO investments in Russia." He prefaced it with "for the record."

17. There are actual records that could prove his point, as Chris Cillizza pointed out on Tuesday: his tax records.

18. Trump has continually refused to release his tax records, saying that it's because some of them are being audited. A former IRS commissioner we spoke with said that this 1) wasn't prohibitive and that Trump could release the returns that are under audit if he wanted to and 2) he could easily release the older ones that aren't under audit. (Trump says he won't.)

19. Trump has used the lure of someday releasing his tax records as a way of deferring other questions. In May, he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that he would reveal how much he paid in taxes only when he released his returns.

20. When Mitt Romney was under pressure to release his taxes in 2012, we'll note, Trump bragged about how he wouldn't hesitate to turn his own over. "I actually think that it's a great thing when you can show that you've been successful, and that you've made a lot of money, that you've employed a lot of people," he said. "I actually think that it's a positive."

21. On CBS on Wednesday, Manafort seemed to largely close the door on the records ever being released. "Mr. Trump has said that his taxes are under audit and he will not be releasing them," Manafort said.
Update: During a press conference a few hours later, Trump reverted to his old argument that he would release his taxes once the audit was done.

22. The burden of proof is on those like Will who claim that Trump may have financial links to interests in Russia — a burden that would be very hard to meet without the release of Trump's tax records or other documents detailing the income that Trump has reported.

23. From a political standpoint, that works to Trump's disadvantage, allowing his opponents to raise questions about something that can only be answered concretely by releasing documents he'd like to keep private…..

AP News, 3 November 2016:

Trump has been contradictory when describing his relationship with Putin. He told ABC in July that he had "no relationship with" with the Russian leader and had no recollection of ever meeting him. But several times in prior years, he'd stated the opposite.

"I do have a relationship with him," Trump said in one 2013 interview in Moscow.
The ABC interview in which Trump said he'd "never met" Putin directly contradicted a 2015 interview Trump did with talk-radio host Michael Savage.

Asked point-blank by Savage whether he'd ever met Putin, Trump responded: "Yes. One time, yes. Long time ago."

Throughout the campaign, Trump has repeatedly tapped top advisers with close ties to Russia. Among them: former campaign chair Paul Manafort.

Trump brought on Manafort in March. Manafort, a longtime Republican operative who'd spent recent years advising a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party before its ouster over alleged corruption, and his deputy Rick Gates took over functional control of managing the Trump campaign in June.

In August, The New York Times reported that a hand-written ledger of cash payments made by Ukraine's ousted government listed Manafort as being paid $12.7 million. Ukrainian prosecutors said the payments detailed in the ledger were an effort to obscure bribes.

A few days later, The Associated Press reported that Manafort and Gates had orchestrated a secret Ukrainian lobbying campaign in Washington. Participants said the men had sought to obscure the true backer of the work — Ukraine's pro-Russian ruling party — by routing lobbying funds through a nonprofit front group.
Manafort and Gates denied having been involved in the lobbying. But emails obtained by the AP explicitly showed Gates giving orders to the lobbyists.

Manafort departed the campaign the following day.

Perhaps a more telling concern about the fitness for office of Donald J Trump is the court case alleging rape of a 13 year-old girl which next comes before the court in December 2016.
https://www.scribd.com/document/326057027/Amended-Complaint-Filed-9-30-2016
https://www.scribd.com/document/326770514/Judge-Status-Conference-Order-Jane-Doe-V-Trump