Deputy Chief Minister Willem Westra van Holthe signed share offer from Vietnamese company
February 10, 2016 1:43pm NT News
Deputy Chief Minister Willem Westra van Holthe has admitted to signing a share offer from a Vietnamese company. PICTURE: Helen Orr
DEPUTY Chief Minister Willem Westra van Holthe signed an offer to personally buy $570,000 in shares from a Vietnamese company he visited multiple times on taxpayer-funded trips.
But both Mr Westra van Holthe and CT Group, which has a formal agreement with the NT Government and wants to invest up to $140 million in a Top End dragon fruit farm, say he backed out of the proposed deal and didn’t send the paperwork.
An NT News investigation uncovered a formal shares offer, signed by Mr Westra van Holthe, for a $570,000 stake in the proposed “Space Ship One mega mall” project in Ho Chi Minh City. The project is owned by a subsidiary of CT Group. Emails, sent from Mr Westra van Holthe’s personal account and obtained by the NT News, detail offers of gifts and hospitality from the company, some of which have been disclosed on official government registers.
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The emails also show Mr Westra van Holthe contacted CT Group with information about the bidding process for a luxury hotel development in Darwin several days before the official tender information was made public. Mr Westra van Holthe’s bank records, also obtained by the NT News, show he received a $650,000 loan through ANZ Bank on September 29 last year.
His signature on the shares offer is dated September 30. On the same day he flew to Ho Chi Minh City for a private trip at his own expense.
The shares offer was issued by CT Group on August 16, 2015 – one day after Mr Westra van Holthe left Vietnam after meeting with the company on official Government business.
“I have never forwarded any signed documents to the CT Group,” he said, after being shown the documents.
“I do not and never have had any legal or financial interests in the CT Group.”
Mr Westra van Holthe said free dinners on official business were reported on the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries register.
Photo: CT Group chairman Tran Kim Chung
Private emails obtained by the NT News show CT Group president Tran Kim Chung and Mr Westra van Holthe developed a personal relationship that included the Minister referring to himself as the company president’s “brother” and thanking him for “hospitality each time I visit HCMC”.
In one email from May 2015, Mr Westra van Holthe noted he would continue contact from his private email account.
“I would hope we can spend some time together to discuss the possibility of future investments in Vietnam and look around HCMC or any other place you consider worthwhile,” he wrote.
“Please note that I will now only use my private email address (this one) for correspondence of this nature between us.
“Warmest regards, your brother, Willem Westra van Holthe.”
RELATED: CALLS FOR DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER WILLEM WESTRA VAN HOLTHE TO BE STOOD DOWN
In a later email from his private account, the Deputy Chief Minister offered “a little early advice” to Mr Chung on the luxury hotel project.
“When we last met (on August 15), I mentioned a hotel site that will be released by the Government in a short time,” he wrote on August 30, five days before the project was announced.
“Very soon the Expressions of Interest will open to develop a luxury 5-star hotel on this site….
“My email to you is to give you a little early advice of the process,” Mr Westra van Holthe added.
“If you believe you have some further interest in this proposal, please let me know and I will try to provide some further details about the government’s ‘thinking’ in relation to the site.
“Wishing my Brother good health and kind regards always.”
It is not clear if Mr Chung or CT Group has put in an EOI for the hotel project – finalists are expected to be announced in March.
Mr Westra van Holthe said it was “standard practice for government ministers to engage with potential investors who have an interest in the Northern Territory. I sought advice (from the Chief Minister) before engaging with the CT Group and this advice was that it was acceptable practice to send basic details as an FYI.”
Another email from the Deputy Chief Minister to Mr Chung in June states:
“I would be very pleased if you could assist me with hotel booking for 4 nights for 5 to 8 July or recommend a hotel fore (sic) me to stay that is convenient. I will depart on 9 July.
“Once I leave HCMC, I will remain in Vietnam on official business ...”
Mr Chung replies to inform Mr Westra van Holthe that “we will pick you up and of course, we will arrange hotel and all transportation for you for following days”.
The Deputy Chief Minister did not declare receiving any transport or accommodation from that trip on his register of interests as of January 18.
“I have never received any undeclared hospitality from the CT Group or anyone else for that matter,” he said.
“The personal visits I have taken to Vietnam have been just that – personal.”
Artist’s impression of the proposed Space Ship One mega mall project
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show Mr Westra van Holthe did fly to Ho Chi Minh City on July 5, four days before an official Government trip where he represented Chief Minister Adam Giles to discuss supplying the country with live cattle and buffalo.
Government records show he used those days as “personal leave” before official meetings.
He has continued to hold meetings with CT Group to discuss investment opportunities in the Territory – the most recent was held on December 19 in Darwin.
CT Group president Tran Kim Chung denied in an email that Mr Westra van Holthe had any investments with the company.
“Mr Willem Westra has no investment in our group and we have no special relationship with him,” he said. “He was treated in foreign affair protocol because he is representative of your Government.”
The NT News phoned a man in Vietnam, known to the Minister as “Tony”, whose contact details were listed on the share offer. Tony said Mr Westra van Holthe did not proceed with the deal, citing the need for more time to examine the proposal.
“I have not heard anything from him for a while,” Tony said. “I’m not sure of his intentions at this project because at that time he said he needed more time to study and he would call me back.”
When asked if the Minister had paid any money, Tony said:
“Oh, not yet, not yet. The money is just the final part. Because he said it’s not the right time for him to co-operate.”
According to official ministerial travel records, Mr Westra van Holthe paid a one night “courtesy call” to the company’s operations on an August 2015 trip to Ho Chi Minh City – outside of an official visit to Thailand and Indonesia with Queensland and WA Government officials to promote Australia’s cattle industry.
The official approval request for the trip included no mention of visiting CT Group in Ho Chi Minh. But days before the trip was to occur, Mr Westra van Holthe sought approval to amend the official itinerary so he could leave Bangkok a day early to visit with CT Group officials again to “demonstrate the NT Government’s ongoing support of his (Mr Chung’s) investment interests in dragon fruit in the NT”.
Records show “verbal approval was given by the (Chief Minister)” for the diversionary trip and paid for by taxpayers. The extra cost was more than $2000.
Travel documents show Mr Westra van Holthe paid for a hotel in Ho Chi Minh and sought reimbursement by taxpayers for that and $300 in assorted “unforeseen hospitality expenses” while entertaining in the city.
The shares offer for the Space Ship One mega mall was issued on August 16, 2015 – the day after he met with the company.
An email from CT Group’s “Tony” accompanies the shares offer to Mr Westra van Holthe. Mr Chung was also copied on the email.
“It was good to see you during your recent short trip in Vietnam,” Tony wrote. “As promised, I would like to send you the information package of SS1 Mega Mall as below …
“Also appreciate if you can confirm the number of shares you would like to acquire for our better arrangements.”
The paperwork shows Mr Westra van Holthe proposed to pay roughly $340,000 AUD as the first part of his share agreement in early October of last year with the remaining $230,000 due a week later. But he said those payments did not happen.
Bank records show the $650,000 loan was dispersed to different unknown accounts, spread out over the month of October.
READ MORE: http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/deputy-chief-minister-willem-westra-van-holthe-signed-share-offer-from-vietnamese-company/news-story/87c2b87cc83078aa2faf403fd695fb1e
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