Warnings on alleged legal breaches
A newly-formed organisation representing self-managed superannuation fund trustees, has warned members with funds invested in Lift Capital to seek legal advice because the actions undertaken by the company may have broken basic superannuation law.
The chief executive of the Self-Managed Superannuation Members’ Association (SMSA) , Peter Bishell, said the concerns related to investments in Lift Capital’s SuperLIFT product in circumstances where a presentation by the company’s administrators suggested the SuperLIFT product disclosure statement allowed Lift Capital to take action in relation to the investments of SMSFs without the knowledge or permission of trustees.
He said this was likely to represent a breach of basic superannuation law prohibiting superannuation trustees from entering into any arrangement that hindered the trustee in properly performing their duties and exercising their powers to act in the best interests of fund members.
Bishell said that the trustees of SMSFs would have clearly lost control of investments held in SuperLIFT when Lift Capital exercised the rights it purported to have within the PDS.
He said that it was on this basis that the SMSA was urging its members to obtain legal advice.
“Neither I nor the SMSA are in a position to give members legal advice but we are determined to make sure our members are given every chance of recovering losses and this might be one way for SMSF trustees to do so,” Bishell said.
He said that superannuation law provided for any fund member who suffered loss as a result of the conduct of another person to take action against that person to recover the losses.
“If SMSF trustees can show that the conduct of Lift Capital or the financial advisers who recommended SuperLIFT investments caused the trustees to breach the requirement for them to properly perform their duties and exercise their powers, they may be able to seek reimbursement of the losses suffered by fund members,” Bishell said.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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