Ref: 2223-1328

 

Dear C. A., of the family Mattheiss,

 

On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 16^th December 2022 requesting under the
Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:

 

‘Please find my OIA questions listed as follows:

I have used your Companies' website (
https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......)
search menu to find that many companies/trust registered in New Zealand
advertise using different names publicly, which is not the same as their
registered company/trust name. Please inform me of who regulates these
companies/trust under your ministry to be sure that they are following the
Fair Trading Act 1986 and other related laws of New Zealand and
internationally, to hold current and valid information on their
company/trust profiles to be correct?

I have recently experienced incorporated societies (3) being removed from
your New Zealand Companies' website but other incorporated societies
remaining on there even when removed for a very long time still today- why
would these incorporated societies history be completely removed from your
Companies' website? The three incorporated societies include the
following- the Upper Clutha River Guardians, Alpine Community Link and the
Clutha Mata-Au River Parkway Group, Incorporated Society, also known as
the Clutha River Parkway Steering Group. The Upper Clutha River Guardians
and the Clutha Mata-Au River Parkway Group, Incorporated Society, were
deregistered by Charities Services.

By law, how long are you required to keep up incorporated societies on
your New Zealand Companies' website? When an incorporated society is
deregistered by Charities Services, and then you are to deregister them,
how long does it take you to show their de-registration status? How long
are you required by law to keep the incorporated society listed as removed
or deregistered?

I have seen registered companies/trusts on your Companies website
(https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......),
whether they be charitable or not, to have outdated information on them
and not to include actual signatories on their company's/trust's profile
who are supposed to be active members. Can you please inform me of who the
person is at your ministry who oversees this sort of information? In other
words, who monitors your website to be sure that companies/trusts
registered in New Zealand are following the New Zealand Acts, Laws and
Bills, to actually exist as a valid registered company/trust under your
ministry?

I have seen legal persons place their name on a company/trust profile on
your website but not include their signatory information of when they
actually became a confirmed member to be able to verify their actual legal
involvement. Who is in-charge of monitoring this information at your
ministry?

I have witnessed legal persons of company/trust profiles remove old
documents on your website to potentially hide factual or historical data
of their members on their company/trust profile. Who monitors this
information on your website
(https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......)
to be sure that companies/trusts are not making errors or miscarriages or
potentially committing acts of fraud or deceit to members of the public on
their company's/trust's profile?

Please inform me of how the Ministry of Economic Development monitors
company/trust profiles on your website? Who is in charge of this?

Where can a member of the public request information for companies/trusts
who have removed information from their company/trust profile that can be
evidenced as being on their profile before removal? Who monitors this
information at your ministry, please?

Please inform me of who the person is at your ministry who monitors
inactive companies/trusts on your website. I see some companies/trusts on
your website remaining inactive for a number of years and still being
allowed to remain current on your website despite this. Who monitors these
inactive companies/trusts at your ministry on your website?

When a charity has been deregistered on the Charities Services website,
how long does it take your ministry to receive this information and
deregister them from your Companies' website
(https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......)?
In the past, I have witnessed charities that have been deregistered from
the Charities Services website and then fairly quickly removed from your
Companies' website
(https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......).
However, a charity in particular which I am unable to mention in this
request has still not been deregistered from your Companies' website for
nearly one year, although it has been deregistered from Charities
Services. Can you please refer me to the person at your ministry who is
in-charge of investigating these types of matters when their is
potentially charity fraud involved as an indication of their
de-registration?

For acts of charity fraud by charitable trusts registered on your website,
which government branches does your ministry involve itself with for these
sorts of investigations to take place?

Please inform me of how your ministry regulates the names of persons being
claimed as members of charitable trusts. Does your ministry require legal
names of persons to be used who make-up a company/trust or do you accept
non-legal names to register a company/trust?

I know of a case where a nonlegal name was used and your ministry actually
induced false representation by legally validating their contracts using a
non-legal name. Please inform me of who is in-charge at your ministry of
the legality of contracts and persons name used on contracts to be legally
valid when provided to your ministry to be processed for approval to
obtain donor status and benefits for charitable purposes in New Zealand?

Does your ministry require legal identifications to be used for these
companies or trusts when they submit their applications to you?

After 2012, your ministry for some reason stopped requiring charitable
trusts to obtain charity status through your agency before obtaining this
status through Charities Services, which was a common practice in the
past. Can you please inform me of when this change was made by law and
reference the act in which this change has been confirmed by the New
Zealand Government as effective?

Please inform me of when a lawyer/barrister initially signs for
company/trust under your ministry and that lawyer/barrister stops being
active within that company/trust, does your ministry allow them to remain
inactive? If so, how long? Is there a time period of a lawyer's inactivity
for a company./trust that would prevent the lawyer who initially
signed-off on a company/trust to be unable to claim property for that
company/trust in the future? If so, please reference this period or law
under your ministry and the act in which it was decided by the New Zealand
Government.

Who at your ministry is in-charge of monitoring lawyers/barristers who
initially sign for companies/trusts to remain active members or not?

I am unable to ask one question at a time. I apologize but due to the
practices and policies of your ministry, I have encountered a significant
amount of errors and miscarriages and other related matters due to
inadequate monitoring of companies/trusts/charitable trusts in New Zealand
overall.

As any OIA request can take up to 21 days to be fulfilled or responded to,
please respond to mine accordingly, if not before.

I require all legal names to be fully disclosed by the person responding
and initials or initialing another person's response to my OIA request
will be unacceptable. All names must be legal persons or entities. I
require the New Zealand Government to follow international standards of
letters and documents. I will require the original document signed in
response to this request to be mailed to me with the physical signature. I
am unable to place my address on this document due to public posting and
safety reasons.

Please provide to me a contact number for your ministry of someone who I
can directly contact so that I can have a signed letter in response to
this OIA request be mailed to me accordingly with physical signature
because it is required for legal purposes. An electronic copy will not be
satisfactory but only for this platform.’

 

Please note that days between 25 December 2022 to 15 January 2023
(inclusive) are defined as non- working days in the Act and are not
counted in the calculation for the response due date. This will affect the
time period for responding to your request.

 

Your request is being processed in accordance with the Act and a response
will be sent to you in due course.

 

If you have any enquiries regarding your request feel free to contact us
via email [1][MBIE request email] or using the contact details below.

 

Nâku noa, nâ

MINISTERIAL SERVICES

 

Ngâ Pou o te Taumaru

Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 |  P O Box 1473 Wellington 6140

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[MBIE request email]

Dear C. A. of the family Mattheiss,

 

We are currently working on a response to your request for information and
will be happy to provide you a hard copy of the response by mail as well
as sending an electronic response to the FYI email address.

 

To ensure your privacy and that your mailing address isn’t published on
the FYI website, you can send an email directly to [1][email address]
from your personal email address to provide us with your mailing address.
Please be sure to reference “DOIA 2223-1328” in your email.

 

Ngâ mihi nui,

 

Ministerial Services

 

Te Whakatairanga Service Delivery

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

[2]http://mbieintranet/assets/MBIE-visual-i...

 

 

 

From: Ministerial Services
Sent: Friday, 16 December 2022 2:40 pm
To: C A Mattheiss <[FOI #21436 email]>
Subject: Acknowledgement of your Official Information Request (2223-1328)
[UNCLASSIFIED]

 

Ref: 2223-1328

 

Dear C. A., of the family Mattheiss,

 

On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 16^th December 2022 requesting under the
Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:

 

‘Please find my OIA questions listed as follows:

I have used your Companies' website (
[3]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......)
search menu to find that many companies/trust registered in New Zealand
advertise using different names publicly, which is not the same as their
registered company/trust name. Please inform me of who regulates these
companies/trust under your ministry to be sure that they are following the
Fair Trading Act 1986 and other related laws of New Zealand and
internationally, to hold current and valid information on their
company/trust profiles to be correct?

I have recently experienced incorporated societies (3) being removed from
your New Zealand Companies' website but other incorporated societies
remaining on there even when removed for a very long time still today- why
would these incorporated societies history be completely removed from your
Companies' website? The three incorporated societies include the
following- the Upper Clutha River Guardians, Alpine Community Link and the
Clutha Mata-Au River Parkway Group, Incorporated Society, also known as
the Clutha River Parkway Steering Group. The Upper Clutha River Guardians
and the Clutha Mata-Au River Parkway Group, Incorporated Society, were
deregistered by Charities Services.

By law, how long are you required to keep up incorporated societies on
your New Zealand Companies' website? When an incorporated society is
deregistered by Charities Services, and then you are to deregister them,
how long does it take you to show their de-registration status? How long
are you required by law to keep the incorporated society listed as removed
or deregistered?

I have seen registered companies/trusts on your Companies website
([4]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......),
whether they be charitable or not, to have outdated information on them
and not to include actual signatories on their company's/trust's profile
who are supposed to be active members. Can you please inform me of who the
person is at your ministry who oversees this sort of information? In other
words, who monitors your website to be sure that companies/trusts
registered in New Zealand are following the New Zealand Acts, Laws and
Bills, to actually exist as a valid registered company/trust under your
ministry?

I have seen legal persons place their name on a company/trust profile on
your website but not include their signatory information of when they
actually became a confirmed member to be able to verify their actual legal
involvement. Who is in-charge of monitoring this information at your
ministry?

I have witnessed legal persons of company/trust profiles remove old
documents on your website to potentially hide factual or historical data
of their members on their company/trust profile. Who monitors this
information on your website
([5]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......)
to be sure that companies/trusts are not making errors or miscarriages or
potentially committing acts of fraud or deceit to members of the public on
their company's/trust's profile?

Please inform me of how the Ministry of Economic Development monitors
company/trust profiles on your website? Who is in charge of this?

Where can a member of the public request information for companies/trusts
who have removed information from their company/trust profile that can be
evidenced as being on their profile before removal? Who monitors this
information at your ministry, please?

Please inform me of who the person is at your ministry who monitors
inactive companies/trusts on your website. I see some companies/trusts on
your website remaining inactive for a number of years and still being
allowed to remain current on your website despite this. Who monitors these
inactive companies/trusts at your ministry on your website?

When a charity has been deregistered on the Charities Services website,
how long does it take your ministry to receive this information and
deregister them from your Companies' website
([6]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......)?
In the past, I have witnessed charities that have been deregistered from
the Charities Services website and then fairly quickly removed from your
Companies' website
([7]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......).
However, a charity in particular which I am unable to mention in this
request has still not been deregistered from your Companies' website for
nearly one year, although it has been deregistered from Charities
Services. Can you please refer me to the person at your ministry who is
in-charge of investigating these types of matters when their is
potentially charity fraud involved as an indication of their
de-registration?

For acts of charity fraud by charitable trusts registered on your website,
which government branches does your ministry involve itself with for these
sorts of investigations to take place?

Please inform me of how your ministry regulates the names of persons being
claimed as members of charitable trusts. Does your ministry require legal
names of persons to be used who make-up a company/trust or do you accept
non-legal names to register a company/trust?

I know of a case where a nonlegal name was used and your ministry actually
induced false representation by legally validating their contracts using a
non-legal name. Please inform me of who is in-charge at your ministry of
the legality of contracts and persons name used on contracts to be legally
valid when provided to your ministry to be processed for approval to
obtain donor status and benefits for charitable purposes in New Zealand?

Does your ministry require legal identifications to be used for these
companies or trusts when they submit their applications to you?

After 2012, your ministry for some reason stopped requiring charitable
trusts to obtain charity status through your agency before obtaining this
status through Charities Services, which was a common practice in the
past. Can you please inform me of when this change was made by law and
reference the act in which this change has been confirmed by the New
Zealand Government as effective?

Please inform me of when a lawyer/barrister initially signs for
company/trust under your ministry and that lawyer/barrister stops being
active within that company/trust, does your ministry allow them to remain
inactive? If so, how long? Is there a time period of a lawyer's inactivity
for a company./trust that would prevent the lawyer who initially
signed-off on a company/trust to be unable to claim property for that
company/trust in the future? If so, please reference this period or law
under your ministry and the act in which it was decided by the New Zealand
Government.

Who at your ministry is in-charge of monitoring lawyers/barristers who
initially sign for companies/trusts to remain active members or not?

I am unable to ask one question at a time. I apologize but due to the
practices and policies of your ministry, I have encountered a significant
amount of errors and miscarriages and other related matters due to
inadequate monitoring of companies/trusts/charitable trusts in New Zealand
overall.

As any OIA request can take up to 21 days to be fulfilled or responded to,
please respond to mine accordingly, if not before.

I require all legal names to be fully disclosed by the person responding
and initials or initialing another person's response to my OIA request
will be unacceptable. All names must be legal persons or entities. I
require the New Zealand Government to follow international standards of
letters and documents. I will require the original document signed in
response to this request to be mailed to me with the physical signature. I
am unable to place my address on this document due to public posting and
safety reasons.

Please provide to me a contact number for your ministry of someone who I
can directly contact so that I can have a signed letter in response to
this OIA request be mailed to me accordingly with physical signature
because it is required for legal purposes. An electronic copy will not be
satisfactory but only for this platform.’

 

Please note that days between 25 December 2022 to 15 January 2023
(inclusive) are defined as non- working days in the Act and are not
counted in the calculation for the response due date. This will affect the
time period for responding to your request.

 

Your request is being processed in accordance with the Act and a response
will be sent to you in due course.

 

If you have any enquiries regarding your request feel free to contact us
via email [8][MBIE request email] or using the contact details below.

 

Nâku noa, nâ

MINISTERIAL SERVICES

 

Ngâ Pou o te Taumaru

Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 | P O Box 1473 Wellington 6140

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
3. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
4. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
7. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
8. mailto:[MBIE request email]

Dear C. A. of the family Mattheiss,

 

Please see attached letter in response to your request for information.

 

Ngâ mihi nui,

 

Ministerial Services

 

Te Whakatairanga Service Delivery

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

[1]http://mbieintranet/assets/MBIE-visual-i...

 

 

 

From: Ministerial Services
Sent: Friday, 16 December 2022 2:40 pm
To: C A Mattheiss <[FOI #21436 email]>
Subject: Acknowledgement of your Official Information Request (2223-1328)
[UNCLASSIFIED]

 

Ref: 2223-1328

 

Dear C. A., of the family Mattheiss,

 

On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 16^th December 2022 requesting under the
Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:

 

‘Please find my OIA questions listed as follows:

I have used your Companies' website (
[2]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......)
search menu to find that many companies/trust registered in New Zealand
advertise using different names publicly, which is not the same as their
registered company/trust name. Please inform me of who regulates these
companies/trust under your ministry to be sure that they are following the
Fair Trading Act 1986 and other related laws of New Zealand and
internationally, to hold current and valid information on their
company/trust profiles to be correct?

I have recently experienced incorporated societies (3) being removed from
your New Zealand Companies' website but other incorporated societies
remaining on there even when removed for a very long time still today- why
would these incorporated societies history be completely removed from your
Companies' website? The three incorporated societies include the
following- the Upper Clutha River Guardians, Alpine Community Link and the
Clutha Mata-Au River Parkway Group, Incorporated Society, also known as
the Clutha River Parkway Steering Group. The Upper Clutha River Guardians
and the Clutha Mata-Au River Parkway Group, Incorporated Society, were
deregistered by Charities Services.

By law, how long are you required to keep up incorporated societies on
your New Zealand Companies' website? When an incorporated society is
deregistered by Charities Services, and then you are to deregister them,
how long does it take you to show their de-registration status? How long
are you required by law to keep the incorporated society listed as removed
or deregistered?

I have seen registered companies/trusts on your Companies website
([3]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......),
whether they be charitable or not, to have outdated information on them
and not to include actual signatories on their company's/trust's profile
who are supposed to be active members. Can you please inform me of who the
person is at your ministry who oversees this sort of information? In other
words, who monitors your website to be sure that companies/trusts
registered in New Zealand are following the New Zealand Acts, Laws and
Bills, to actually exist as a valid registered company/trust under your
ministry?

I have seen legal persons place their name on a company/trust profile on
your website but not include their signatory information of when they
actually became a confirmed member to be able to verify their actual legal
involvement. Who is in-charge of monitoring this information at your
ministry?

I have witnessed legal persons of company/trust profiles remove old
documents on your website to potentially hide factual or historical data
of their members on their company/trust profile. Who monitors this
information on your website
([4]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......)
to be sure that companies/trusts are not making errors or miscarriages or
potentially committing acts of fraud or deceit to members of the public on
their company's/trust's profile?

Please inform me of how the Ministry of Economic Development monitors
company/trust profiles on your website? Who is in charge of this?

Where can a member of the public request information for companies/trusts
who have removed information from their company/trust profile that can be
evidenced as being on their profile before removal? Who monitors this
information at your ministry, please?

Please inform me of who the person is at your ministry who monitors
inactive companies/trusts on your website. I see some companies/trusts on
your website remaining inactive for a number of years and still being
allowed to remain current on your website despite this. Who monitors these
inactive companies/trusts at your ministry on your website?

When a charity has been deregistered on the Charities Services website,
how long does it take your ministry to receive this information and
deregister them from your Companies' website
([5]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......)?
In the past, I have witnessed charities that have been deregistered from
the Charities Services website and then fairly quickly removed from your
Companies' website
([6]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo......).
However, a charity in particular which I am unable to mention in this
request has still not been deregistered from your Companies' website for
nearly one year, although it has been deregistered from Charities
Services. Can you please refer me to the person at your ministry who is
in-charge of investigating these types of matters when their is
potentially charity fraud involved as an indication of their
de-registration?

For acts of charity fraud by charitable trusts registered on your website,
which government branches does your ministry involve itself with for these
sorts of investigations to take place?

Please inform me of how your ministry regulates the names of persons being
claimed as members of charitable trusts. Does your ministry require legal
names of persons to be used who make-up a company/trust or do you accept
non-legal names to register a company/trust?

I know of a case where a nonlegal name was used and your ministry actually
induced false representation by legally validating their contracts using a
non-legal name. Please inform me of who is in-charge at your ministry of
the legality of contracts and persons name used on contracts to be legally
valid when provided to your ministry to be processed for approval to
obtain donor status and benefits for charitable purposes in New Zealand?

Does your ministry require legal identifications to be used for these
companies or trusts when they submit their applications to you?

After 2012, your ministry for some reason stopped requiring charitable
trusts to obtain charity status through your agency before obtaining this
status through Charities Services, which was a common practice in the
past. Can you please inform me of when this change was made by law and
reference the act in which this change has been confirmed by the New
Zealand Government as effective?

Please inform me of when a lawyer/barrister initially signs for
company/trust under your ministry and that lawyer/barrister stops being
active within that company/trust, does your ministry allow them to remain
inactive? If so, how long? Is there a time period of a lawyer's inactivity
for a company./trust that would prevent the lawyer who initially
signed-off on a company/trust to be unable to claim property for that
company/trust in the future? If so, please reference this period or law
under your ministry and the act in which it was decided by the New Zealand
Government.

Who at your ministry is in-charge of monitoring lawyers/barristers who
initially sign for companies/trusts to remain active members or not?

I am unable to ask one question at a time. I apologize but due to the
practices and policies of your ministry, I have encountered a significant
amount of errors and miscarriages and other related matters due to
inadequate monitoring of companies/trusts/charitable trusts in New Zealand
overall.

As any OIA request can take up to 21 days to be fulfilled or responded to,
please respond to mine accordingly, if not before.

I require all legal names to be fully disclosed by the person responding
and initials or initialing another person's response to my OIA request
will be unacceptable. All names must be legal persons or entities. I
require the New Zealand Government to follow international standards of
letters and documents. I will require the original document signed in
response to this request to be mailed to me with the physical signature. I
am unable to place my address on this document due to public posting and
safety reasons.

Please provide to me a contact number for your ministry of someone who I
can directly contact so that I can have a signed letter in response to
this OIA request be mailed to me accordingly with physical signature
because it is required for legal purposes. An electronic copy will not be
satisfactory but only for this platform.’

 

Please note that days between 25 December 2022 to 15 January 2023
(inclusive) are defined as non- working days in the Act and are not
counted in the calculation for the response due date. This will affect the
time period for responding to your request.

 

Your request is being processed in accordance with the Act and a response
will be sent to you in due course.

 

If you have any enquiries regarding your request feel free to contact us
via email [7][MBIE request email] or using the contact details below.

 

Nâku noa, nâ

MINISTERIAL SERVICES

 

Ngâ Pou o te Taumaru

Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 | P O Box 1473 Wellington 6140

 

 

References

Visible links
2. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
4. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
7. mailto:[MBIE request email]