SFO calls lawyer in over case

Barrister Paul Dale led charges against Blue Chip. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The serious Fraud Office says it has gone as far as it can in investigating Blue Chip and is seeking the help of a lawyer who has led the charge for hundreds of victims of the failed investment scheme.

Barrister Paul Dale will meet SFO director Adam Feeley this week to offer his opinion on where the agency should go from here.

At present the SFO did not know what direction that might be, Feeley said. "The bulk of the inquiries we could reasonably do we have done."

Unlike some of its finance company investigations, which centred around the actions of one or two people, there were "a lot of faces" in the Blue Chip collapse, he said.

SFO had looked at a range of involved parties, from agents selling the products to those who offered legal advice on the scheme. It had its initial views but Feeley "couldn't rule out the possibility of some new perspectives coming out of the discussions with Paul.

"Subject to those discussions I don't think at this point there is anything more we can realistically do."

Dale represents more than 200 burned Blue Chip investors and has led several legal challenges on their behalf since the scheme collapsed in February 2008. The SFO began investigating Blue Chip in May the same year.

Asked why it hadn't involved Dale before, Feeley said in a perfect world it would have but investigators had faced an enormous workload.

SFO staff had dealt with Blue Chip liquidator Jeff Meltzer.

Dale welcomed the upcoming meeting. "It's fairly obvious that, given our knowledge of Blue Chip, there was some sense in talking to us."

He still questioned why Blue Chip had never been put into Statutory Management.

"My overriding concern is that [Blue Chip parent company] Northern Crest is not in liquidation and that liquidators haven't taken a more comprehensive view."

Developers of Blue Chip apartment blocks still technically owed Blue Chip companies large underwrite fees. Some of those companies were not in liquidation, he said. "Those are live issues that ought to have been investigated."

Feeley, who took the reins at the SFO in November, would not comment on lack of co-ordination between enforcement agencies over Blue Chip before his appointment.