Last defendant intends to settle in Manitoba Crocus Investment lawsuit
http://news.therecord.com/article/383730
July 15, 2008
THE CANADIAN PRESS
The Canadian Press, 2008
WINNIPEG - The final defendant in the lawsuit that resulted from the meltdown of Manitoba's Crocus Investment Fund has agreed to an out-of-court settlement.
Wellington West Capital has agreed in principle to a $500,000 payment that will end a lawsuit by former Crocus shareholders. Wellington West handled most of the underwriting for Crocus.
In a statement, Wellington West president Kish Kapoor said litigation would be expensive and would delay the distribution of Crocus assets to shareholders.
At the same time, Kapoor said Wellington West is confident that they would have prevailed in the case.
Other parties being sued, including the Manitoba government, had previously agreed to a $12-million settlement.
Crocus, a labour-sponsored venture fund that was set up by the government in 1992 and run by an arm's-length board, went into receivership in 2005 after its value plummeted through two multimillion-dollar writedowns.
The Fund ran into trouble and collapsed.
The Conservatives were thrilled, and wasted no time calling on the NDP government to pay everyone back and prosecute... and, of course, the media had a field day--- they couldn't wait to blame labour leaders for the Fund's failure.
But, now, the Conservatives have gone silent for some strange reason.
So, I sent this little message to my "Conservative" friends in Manitoba and to the media... for some reason I received no response:
The Conservatives in Manitoba demanded that all those who lost money in the labour-based Crocus Investment Fund should be compensated in full.
Why are these same Conservatives not, now, demanding complete compensation for all those losing money in the stock and bond markets as capitalism crashes?
Here are the e-mail addresses of some Winnipeg area media that clamored for pay-back for the investors in the Crocus Investment Fund; ask them why they aren't raising their voices for all who have lost so much money in the stock market crash... I notice also they haven't called for union pension funds to be compensated for their losses as capitalism continues on the skids to oblivion taking us all down the road to perdition:
Radio Station CJOB is the big right-wing talk radio in Winnipeg... with big-mouths Charles Adler and Larry Updike
'adleronline@gmail.com';
'cjobwebadmin@corusent.com';
'lupdike@cjob.com';
'obillson@cjob.com';
'jim.bender@sunmedia.ca'; Winnipeg Sun
'city.desk@freepress.mb.ca'; Winnipeg Free Press
'Gerald.Flood@freepress.mb.ca'; Winnipeg Free Press
'Steve.Pona@freepress.mb.ca'; Winnipeg Free Press
'Martin.Cash@freepress.mb.ca'; Winnipeg Free Press
Maybe these right-wing big-mouths should be asking the same question asked of guests on "Meet the Press" last Sunday:
What's the future of capitalism?
Working people always seem to come out holding the dirty end of the stick when they play around with capitalism no matter how noble the goal and intent... there is a lesson for us all as capitalism runs into newer and bigger problems every day.
The lesson is rather simple: Working people need socialism in order to survive.
Something to think about,
Alan L. Maki
