Investors Club hits out

THE Investors Club, which has operated in Western Australia for the past seven years, has hit back at Australia’s corporate watch dog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, after it was ordered – by the Queensland Supreme Court – to wind up some of its operations.

The club, promoted around Australia by Queenslanders Kevin and Kathleen Young, is a property club that offers its members property investment opportunities.

Mr Young has been unavailable for public comment but an Investors Club spokesman accused ASIC of releasing misleading information on the outcome of a recent Supreme Court hearing.

“The treatment we have received from ASIC is an absolute disgrace and we demand a public apology,” the spokesman said earlier this week.

“The misleading media release has been withdrawn from ASIC’s website but the Investors Club has already suffered significant media and public scrutiny.”

However, ASIC reposted an altered media release on Tuesday.

ASIC has been putting pressure on the club and Mr and Mrs Young since at least the beginning of this year.

However, ASIC officers said they were unable to comment on the Investor Club matter.

On March 17 it obtained permanent orders in the Queensland Supreme Court against the Youngs and the four companies of which they are directors, The Investors

Club Ltd, Lisson Pty Ltd, Self Help Investors Group Pty Ltd and Club Loans Pty Ltd.

Two of the club’s services have been withdrawn as a result of the court decision.

One, The No Tenant? No Problem! (NTNP) Scheme insures members on most club properties in the event that the property is vacant.

At present, there are 323 properties in WA covered by the program out of 1,574 nationally.

Investors Club national branch manager Barry Atkins said that while the scheme was being discontinued, all claims would be met until the last subscription expired.

In addition, the Joint Venture program, which is developing properties in Queensland, is being wound up.

The Investors Club claims that more than 3,000 members throughout Australia and New Zealand have purchased properties through it while about 60,000 people receive regular property investment advice including 16,600 in WA, since it was established in 1995.

Mr Atkins, who is based in Perth, said the club had sold more than 4,400 properties, more than 3,600 of them in Queensland and nearly 600 in WA with the balance in New South Wales and Victoria.

He said about 100 workshops were held across the nation each month, with around six in Perth and a number in major regional centres.

In the past, the Investors Club has also come under the scrutiny of WA’s Ministry of Fair Trading, now known as the Department of Consumer and Employment Protection.