All the beautiful Edwafiners

Of course, when the first leaves began stirring in the under-brush, a good many followed suit. After the new web  page of Stapleton and Hutchinson was inaugurated two days ago, many old (girl)friends looked up my email address and contributed more information.

First of all, let me report back on my "welcome to our reality" message I sent to The Pair. Nothing, totally silent and devoid of living-substance. Very much like our Edwafin investments - totally, absolutely, and resolutely nothing. Now, can you imagine that.? I would have at least thought a "thank you for your warm welcome, and kind thoughts" would have been in order, but no - absolute solid heavy silence. "Oh well", I thought, "perhaps their site is yet an empty shell". But not so, as one in our midst, actually phoned the office phone of the sparkling new DMC, and spoke to Sandy, the other half of Don. So they are in office.

Having mentioned the poorly designed website [really Patrick, your financial acumen is deplorable, but must you let your poor taste reflect on the Internet - shame on you now.], I wondered who the service provider would be, that would provide such a service to brittle fingers. And ... yet another girlie came to the rescue and supplied the following:

---------------------------------------------

domain                 : dynamicmc.co.za

registration date      : 2009-06-22

expiry date            : 2010-06-01

registrant             : Upward Spiral

registrantpostaladdress: Unit 1, 18 Edendale Rd. Eastleigh. Edenvale.

registrantstreetaddress: Unit 1, 18 Edendale Rd. Eastleigh. Edenvale.

billingaccount         : Upward Spiral

invoiceaddress         : Unit 1, 18 Edendale Rd. Eastleigh. Edenvale.

registrantphone        : +27 11 609 7765 2k. Registrant Fax No. : +27 11

registrantphone        : +27 11 609 7765 2k. Registrant Fax No. : +27 11

registrantfax          : 

admin                  : van den Heever, Gary

admintitle             : Admin

admincompany           : Upward Spiral

adminpostaladdr        : Unit 1, 18 Edendale Rd. Eastleigh. Edenvale.

adminphone             : +27 11 609 7765

adminfax               : +27 11 609 7785

tec                    : Stevens, Rowan

tectitle               : Tech

teccompany             : Upward Spiral

tecpostaladdr          : 292 Thrush Avenue Boskriun 2188

tecphone               : +27 11 792 3632

tecfax                 : +27 11 609 7785

primnsfqdn             : ns1.your-server.de

secns1fqdn             : ns.second-ns.com

secns2fqdn             : ns3.second-ns.de

secns2ip               : 

secns2ipv6             : 

secns4fqdn             : 

WIDTH=480 ALIGN=CENTER BGCOLOR=#B6D5E4>

 Yoopy-whoopy I thought, and immediately visited the Upward Spiral web site. Oh, deary, me. What a shambles it would be, in my best Shakespearian. The Upward Spiral has not yet taken off, and it is still firmly rooted to the earthy plane. They also have a most peculiar web site address http://www.us1007.co.za/ - go figure! There are just no names that can be connected to the management of the site. Oh yes, plenty of promises and wonderful visions of the future, but all hidden behind a wall of anonymity.They are actually erecting (sies! for those improper thoughts) their own towers. Naturally The Pair (Patrick and Don) have attached themselves to one of those erections, and now hope that it will spread the word about their sincerity with our money. The word "premature" comes to mind, if you catch my drift. Let's face is the NPA is still investigating the Edwafin matter, and at the prospects of the money of others, they have already latched themselves to somebody else's erection (you know what I mean - the tower, tsk, tsk, tsk.)

The next best thing was to log on the site and join the forum. Thus bearded Mario duly filled in all the required spaces; confirmed via email that I wanted to join the forum, and was informed that the moderator would have to check me out. Well, folkies, he/she/it is still checking as silence is the state of existence from Upward Spiral - and these people purport to be specialists in electronic communications. Well, let's face it "soort soek soort."

It is utter coincidence that Upward Spiral was last updated on 8 July 2009 (there is a peculiarity here as the original article was written on11 August - Einstein's ears are flapping as there are people who have actually mastered reverse time travel) while the new DMC came into existence around the same time. The quality of both sites seem to be on par - hey guys, like so many of you, I don't live even close to the seas, but it is surely getting smelly around here.

We will snoop on, an I love your assistance.

Creating Reality as we go along

A version of the uncertainty principle is: "the observer always interferes with the phenomenon under observation". This is merely stating what many spiritual thinkers already know: you are, at least partially, responsible for the reality that you are observing or experiencing. When investing money, you become an observer, but also people on the sidelines become observers. We all become observers of each other's actions. Some observers are neutral, and just observe. However, there are those who observe with biased interest. yes, you have got it, those folks who like to tell you: "I told you so." One wonders if the group sentiment does not often cause the situations such as the one, we the investors, now find ourselves in. After having invested with Edwafin, I read about journalist Vic's warning about the dangers of such investments. Too late, of course, but the seed had been sown, and my subconscious did the rest: I had become one of the observers of the demise of 4000/1400 (take your pick) investors, as the possibility of a bad outcome constantly plagued my mind.

Let us now take the exercise a step further and we have a bit of a conundrum. In our experiment we start with one observer of a phenomena:

A observers phenomena X and exerts an affect

then we add another experiment with another observer:
B observes [A observers phenomena; exerts an affect]; exerts affect

we repeat this experiment with observer C, thus:
C observes {B observes [A observers phenomena; exerts an affect]; exerts affect} exerts affect

and again we do another experiment in which:
D observes (C observes {B observes [A observers phenomena; exerts affect]; exerts affect} exerts affect); exerts affect

And now I'm clean out of dissimilar brackets, so we will stop at this point. However, the point is clear: ultimately, the last say seems to be with D, and his creativity could ultimately overrule those of C, B, and A. Unfortunately, C, B and A are not always aware that D has been around to influence their life, nor would they like to admit that somehow they have handed over control over their lives to another - that is, until matters go pear-shaped. Of course this happens when one abdicates one's responsibility for one's own existence to other influences and other awarenesses of reality. Some would call it the blame-game.

I suppose it to happen at some time or other. Yes, some of the directors of Edwafin have spoken out. No, I didn't mean that they said anything, I said they spoke out - slight difference there. Some of the other directors have wisely kept their silence, lest they utter unintelligentias. Let's face it, we as human being just love making sounds with our mouths - the more the better. Whether such noises actually mean anything or are pertinent, is beside the point. Let's take the to-and-throw between Carole and Patrick for instance: Is anybody any the wiser? If you are, please inform me poste-haste. As far as I'm concerned their sputtering compares to the pointless gargling of my ex-wife: a horrible cacophony but does not reduce the stink. These folks have messed up big time, but always remain within the framework of human creative collective thought, they have, like all of us, no option in this respect. So, to be quite fair, they are mere instruments in the greater creative structures of the universe.

In our experiment above, observer A is unaware of the influence exerted on the experiment by observers, B, C, and D, and therefore are at a loss for words as to why the situation came about the way it did. Because of the lack of a logical explanation, we start looking for extremes and illogical reasons why things happened as they did (in the meantime D is chuckling in his sleeve [I told you so]). So enter Carole and Patrick (the other directors are seemingly still searching for words, or know that they are at least partially responsible for the mess we find ourselves in.)

Carole's statement first. Again she cannot neglect to state that she also has lost money in the venture. Now, does anybody out there feel better knowing Carole has lost money as well. Let's face it she collected the money, and continued to do so after she had resigned and had been asked to stay on. The reasons were purely for financial reasons. Well, obviously, not so? So while she was clearly aware of the difficulties the company found itself in (that is why she resigned to begin with), she continued collecting a salary nevertheless. How convenient it is to say, after the fact, that Patrick took everybody for a ride - pure patheticism, and this from someone who would otherwise maintain that she is an intelligent person. Must be, otherwise she would not have made herself available for the various roles she played in the company, even a CEO of Edwafin.

The extent to which Carole was aware of the troubles at Edwafin is born out by the fact that she suggested a debt-consolidation company. Now, if I had not known that this was straight from the horse's mouth, I would find it astounding: as I said before "first we help to get you in debt, and then when there is no more sugar in the pot, we will help you reorganize your life." It appears that Carole has taken her own suggestions seriously, now that the cookie has crumbled. Of course she did not intend for this service to be free, but one would have to pay the company for it should you require their service. The reader would agree that it is blatant and cunning and is all about getting your money, getting your money, getting your money, after she has got it from you all already.

She then admits:

"At that point I was trying to do anything that would generate enough cash to cover the salaries or rent," she said.

So she was quite aware that the company was in trouble and then admits that she continued to collect on behalf of the company to get money to pay for her own salary and office space! This is a beauty: "Patrick needed somebody to share the responsibility with." Hoola, Hoola, Hey! Don't look at what I did, but listen to what I say!

Then she goes on, hypothesizing about Patrick's role in the Puritan investment issue. You may remember that Carole accused this blog of rumouring and speculation. The same Carole who now blatantly adds to the rumours. No, Carole, not good enough. What I find so astoundingly amusing is that this lady has shown no remorse whatsoever for the losses of all those investors in which she had a hand extracting money from - it is all about herself. This is of course true for all the directors of Edwafin and subsidiaries. They have seemingly little empathy or regret for the investors whom they relieved of their money and is an indication of the callousness of these human beings. At least, some have been totally silent, but the loudest are talking the most and are merely being repetitive of empty utterances or semi truths, called splutterania.

Of course Patrick had to respond. He is one of those beings, that one hopes would rather keep his peace lest he makes a spectacle of himself. One-dimensional, I tell you, one-dimensional. True to himself he uttered again.

Again we have the story of the bad economic conditions. Again he refuses to admit that by August 2008 he had already squandered R200,000,000 of the investors money. Again he admits that he was running some kind of Ponzi scheme as no new investments came in to finance the existing debts. Again he hammers on about the DMC project as the saviour of Edwafin, which the liquidators have now shown is basically worth nothing (no reflection on the quality of the car, which is probably very high). Again he admits appointing someone to help get more money to finance the creditors account. Remember at the time he vehemently denied that the company was bankrupt. And then he tells us that as CEO of Edwafin, he had little to do with the overseas derivative. This from an educated, supposed to be, intelligent being who only has darkness surrounding him. Patrick, why not just admit that you are a pathetic businessman, in which honesty is hidden deep within your pant pockets.

Ignorant people, aren't we? Pathetic, aren't we? But it is all D's fault, we the observers and the observed.

The welcomed becomes the interloper

These days when I open the curtains of my bedroom in the morning, the first thing I notice is the bare plum tree with a greyish sky as backdrop. That is, of course, after I start remembering that I have toes, which somewhere during the night, seemed to have disappeared from my reality of self, while Pedro and Gigi snuggled so tightly against me that I imaged floating in the empty space next to my bed. My wife, the good, old soul, is no problem I must say, she is well behaved and mostly keeps to herself when there is a biting chill in the air. Every now and then she needs to touch me with her hands or feet to show off the fact that her circulation is somewhat poorer than mine. Fortunately, we are no tarantulas, otherwise I would have been eaten by now.

Anybody reading the above might think that I'm penning this from that little, lower-than-sea-level country-and-soon-to-disappear-under-the-water-if-global-warming-continues, Holland. No, my awareness is currently in sunny South Africa, - can you imagine? One travels 6000kms over land and sea (my family couldn't make up their mind so we did it a few times) to reach the sunny paradise of crime, and to discover that the archetypes Patrick (with wify), Don, Klynsmiths, Carole and a few other characters with stubbles of take-from-others-what-you-want without-a-blush enriching their lower chins. Hey presto, we have perfection. But we have no contradiction in terms here: every paradise has its slimy slitherers, lurkers, sneakers and snurkers. They hide in the thickets watching for an opportunity to strike at the heels of those who attempt to walk upright in life.

Let us keep in mind though, that these low-living entities have a peculiar view of that what lies above; their perspective is completely wonky, and with the little bit of insights into life given to them by the Universe, they have little option to have but a myopic outlook concerning the well being of other beings on the planet. (Nee, ek praat nou nie Hollands nie, maar geheel en al mondlangs).

After I established the archetypes of the famous group of ingredients that make up the Edwafin pie, they all reacted as I expected them to do according to their archetype. Patrick tried to bully and cajole with various threats, lies and other ill-considered pseudo truths. Don sneakered his way around the scene, as slippery as a melting jelly tot, stuttering echos of his leader's patheticisms. Klynsmith took on the guise of a holy spirit (not to be confused with the Christian concept - please!) - you know it is there but is nowhere to be found or heard. His name only lurks on various legal documents, while he busies himself on his knees in heavenly ecstasy. Let's face it, that is his alternate profession.

No, I haven't forgotten about another one and I'll come to that in a moment - remember eternity is a loooong time, and we'll all be around in the end (another paradox that makes absolute sense: if we regard the Newtonian world as a subset of a greater reality, then the end according to Newton would imply entry into a greater reality where the concept of never ending is a reality and not just an incomprehensible idea. But, having said that, the concept of never-ending in itself implies that there is something like an ending, and in terms of eternity that absolutely makes no sense [hee hee, got ya] ).

Where were we? Oh yes, we have another member of the group. Where the other protagonists have gone into relative silence, there is one that came out fighting, determined to convince everybody that she didn't do what she had done (paradox no 2), and that she was in a blissful swoon while Edwafin collapsed into a messy heap, like a vanilla ice cream that fell to the sandy floor on a hot summers day. (Incidentally, the other Edwafin folks stopped following the blog, and I have had to remove their email addresses from the blog list as their emails were no longer operational.) This good-natured, all-is-fair-in-love-and-war lady, makes an all out effort to get us to believe that she was totally unaware of the disdain towards the investors, and other management catastrophes at Edwafin. Then in the next paragraph she goes forth and tells us about the iniquities that took place at Edwafin (this is paradox no 3, but while we are into paradoxes, no matter). She also denies in her own words: "CG never ran Edwabond, get that straight please. ", but I have en email direct from her which states Carole Gardiner, CEO, Edwabond (paradox no 4).
<====== Carole Gardiner

Her slithering trick is to play footsy footsy with the investors, ignoring their tremendous heartsore, and losses, whilst concentrating on the losses incurred by herself and those close to her and, of course extricating herself from the web of deceit that the Edwafians have spun for themselves.

Carole is loved all over Cape Town, that little town with flatties and peaks. Unfortunately these good capies were so busy adoring their heap of soil, that nobody took the trouble to comment on the blog on how good a person she is.

Under the guise of wanting to cooperate, she promises much but lashes out at anybody who shows the slightest distrust in her sincerity. She bawls, shouts and screams, at the unfair treatment meted out to her by the same investors she made financially somewhat airier.

Carole has a sidekick, with little experience as a soul or as a human being, and who only seems to be able to communicate in two single syllabled words ("yeah, right", I"'m confused," etc.) Carole even has this side kick believe that investors run companies and not the directors. Of course, directors are merely soulistic place holders to earn high salaries, and therefore have no responsibility whatsoever. Of course, the investors regularly come together to decide on matters concerning the running of the company - uh! ar u loosing ur marbles?

Carole wanted to join a class action suit, and promises more insightful gems. What was that? Oh, of course a promise and a reality are not synonyms you say. This is called the art of deceitful prior intentions: an intention is a mental readiness to do something, except that a prior intention overrides all following intentions, making what follows null and void. iff p ->q, q<>real.

So we learn nothing.

Carole then joins forces with the liquidators and makes it seem that they have now joined in a unified force acting against investors. Slitherers, slitherers, slitherers.

Carole's venomous disdain for the investors gradually makes this blog unpleasant by means of anonymous and semi-identified comments, and the bossman then decides to not comment any further on her profoundly nonsensical outbursts (paradox umpteenth), and asks other anonimi to follow his example.

Carole then informs the bossman that she will no longer comment to the blog anymore. Of course everybody notices nothing except that the atmosphere has lifted by universal degrees.

Carole lets out a few short trailing splutters, as does her sidekick. These did not get published - once you have polished your shoes, and they are shiny and bright, it is foolhardy to talk a walk through a mud pool.

Of course, like all of us, Carole is also a member of the human, and she has taken on the unenviable task of being a culprit in this lifetime. Therefore, although responsible for her own actions and words, she is also not in terms of the Universe but we collectively are (paradox ... where were we now again?)

We understand.

PS. All typos and spelling errors corrected under duress from my wife

Appeal to our old souls

Unfortunately, this blog has now become one of slinging vitriolic arrows at each other.

To those who have a bit more wisdom I would like to appeal that you no longer react to the denialism of Carole Gardiner. Let us accept the fact that she firmly believes in her own innocence in this matter. No amount of attempted convincing is going to make the lady realize that she has collected millions of Rand from people on behalf of a company to which she belonged and of which she was even a CEO. She clearly has total disregard for the loss of all the investors, but prefers to repeatedly state that she (and her's) also have lost money. That, in spite of the fact that nobody denies the veracity of her (and her's) own loss. However, she still shows no sign of reciprocating this acknowledgement towards the 4000 (some people talk about 2000 investors, but I firmly believe there are 4000).

The fact that she has now at least taken a small step forward by putting her name to a comment is praiseworthy, but her continued demonstration sickening human attitude is regrettable. An injured animal becomes vicious in its self-defence, a cornered human being becomes completely devoid of sensibility. Let us let her be.

Let us therefore, no longer resist her attempts at obfuscation and self-righteousness, lest we receive further infantile giggles of pleasure over possible further losses by the investor as envisaged by the liquidators. Perhaps, she thinks, and it seems so from her attitude, that she will only be held answerable by the liquidators, with whom she now seems to be as thick as pea-soup. However, the liquidators are not the be-all and end-all, and life carries on beyond liquidation. Carol, if you are going to do some thinking at all today, think about what is going to happen once the liquidators have gone to bed.

Carol, if it makes you feel better, continue your vitriol but know that it reinforces our distrust in you. Your involvement in this issue is not somewhere outside yourself with others who you may think despise you, but within yourself. You cannot merely brush us off like dust from your skirt or by smooching with the liquidators (you know, you are actually putting them in a bad light, and I'm sure they don't like that.) I know your archetype has problems relating to individuals as individuals and that they become merely objects to abuse, and for that we accept you as such.

My reaction to Carol's virtual contributions herewith comes to an end.

From the depths of the Inferno came her voice: HYPE!

Out of the blue, today, an email arrived from Ms Carole Gardiner, erstwhile Director of Edwabond, and a variety of other capacities before that. I love Cape Town, I love its people, the mountain, the sea, die taal, and everything else Cape Townish. Therefore if I should receive an email from that vicinity, I am happy. However, enough about my affair with a town, here's the letter:
20090519 EMail Carole Gardiner

Publish at Scribd or explore others: carole gardiner edwabond

My and Ms Gardiner's liaison go back some months, and I think that it was in January 2009, that I spoke to her over the phone. I have mentioned the situation once before, but that is quite a few pages back. The conversation went something like this:

• Mario: "Good afternoon, I would like to request a form CM42 please. I have requested this form a number of times by phone and email, but there seems to be a problem"
• Ms G: "I don't know of such a form. What is the form for?"
• Mario: "I need the form to request my money back."
• Ms G: "You can't get your money back, you will have to see out the full five year term."
• Mario: "According to your prospectus, I am now entitled to my money back, seeing that you defaulted on your interest payments."
• Ms G: "You can't get your money back, you will have to see out the full five year term."
• Mario: "But you defaulted on ...."
• Ms G: "You can't get your money back, you will have to see out the full five year term."
• Mario: "I have spoken to Mr. Stapleton, and have had much correspondence with him, and he told me that I needed to submit a form CM42 tegether with a 'put'-option."
• Ms G: "This conversation is going nowhere. Email me and let me have the correspondence between you and Mr. Stapleton."

Isn't she cute? I remember as if it was yesterday. I also promised my wife never to use the words I used when I put the phone down again in her presence.

But then I remembered that Ms Gardiner and I have a history together that goes back many life times. The last time I was a pirate with a hook for a left hand (or was it the right hand? - anyway), and she was the admiral on one of her Majesty's ships. They had capture our ship and had boarded us, forcing us to defend ourselves. She (actually she was a he at the time) charged at me with his/her fiercely sharp cutlass and lunged at my heart .. I intercepted the steel blade with my hook, sparks flew into the air, and then I poke the thumb of my good hand deep into the soft, giving flesh of his/her eye. Since that day we both wore an eye patch. Although they captured us that day, Gardiner has never forgiven me for the loss of vision.

So I was a bit surprised to receive her letter, explaining her situation and opinion.

Ms Gardiner I respect your opinion, and thank you for your brave approach to our current situation. I am also appreciative of your role in the management of Edwafin. What baffles me is that as one that was appointed to the board during the early months of 2008 you were not aware of the impending doom that was approaching and that you only became aware of the situation in December 2008, after October and November had been months of struggle already. A number of ex-employees have written to inform this blog that they have repeatedly warned the board of impending problems. Unfortunately you also do not mention any other investments that were taken by the company in your charge after October 2008, but then you only exclude the Cape Town branch. So do we assume there were no investements made after October 2008? OK.

But let us accept that you were a minor role player in the Edwafin game, you still were a director of a subsidiary company, and even though you now have the benefit of vision of both eyes, you blithely ignore the plight that the company, of which you were a senior officer, put so many people through, the anguish, anxiety, heartbreak, emotional pain? Does not mean much to you? OK. Yet, and like Patrick (10 million plus), you consider it important for us to know, that you and your family have invested R5 million. Who the hell cares?

I respect your opinion about Edwafin's possible liquidation, there are others that share your view, while I'm ambivalent. Yet, if the directors of Edwafin had played open cards from the beginning, and if they would now stop uttering contradictory statements, it would be easier to support either side. You tell us that you "believe" that it would be better for the company to be put under Judicial Management, but like the remaining directors at edwafin, you provide us with no facts or figures. Come on, now. Is that all your learnt from Patrick: sending letters with empty statements, demanding to be believed by those you have inconvenienced so grievously?

You have another belief:

"I believe that the matter is being capably handled by the judiciary and that we should rather await this decision, desisting in the interim from further hype and speculation."

Hands up those who do not believe the judiciary is handling the matter capably! Of course we all agree with you, that is why we are waiting with abated breaths, "waiting for its decision". I tell you who had no confidence in the judiciary, it was Patrick and fellow warriors. They sent out questionnaires, with votes for and against liquidation or Judicial management; they arranged meetings for the investors with the purpose of convincing them with sweet sounding words. I must admit, reality is playing games with me, its like having an argument with my ex.

Then comes the clincher: "desist from hype and speculation. " Amen (Oops that was naughty of me)
From the dictionary: hype
1. (n.) Information disseminated to gain acceptance:
• publicity, advertising, promotion, puffery, circulation, write-up, buildup, promulgation, plug (colloquial)
2. (v.) To make known vigorously the positive features of:....

This blog talks about the difficult situation we, the investors, find ourselves in. Many statements are received that are not published for fear of retribution. Yes, it is true, that at times we speculate, and in view of the lack of transparency from Edwafin, who could blame us? Edwafin could not look after our interests so we have to do it ourselves. But considering the utterances from the majesties of commerce at Edwafin, who on earth is hyping whom?

It ironic that you end your letter with the same hazy, neither-here-neither-there promises of possible investments - an old Patrick-trick that we have heard him expound since early November 2008. Now that you have the sight of both eyes back, can't you see that the investor needs factual information - not just vague, misty, bedraggled statements of futuristic events. Sies man.

You represent an archetype I do not trust... and no, I have no questions for you.

Just arrived from the planet Relaxo

Isn't it peculiar that a Monday holiday feels different than a Monday that is not a holiday, even if you are not doing something special? It is as if there is temporarily a different Zeitgeist that beset the consciousness of human souls, and everything - the hustle and bustle - is for a short period suspended.

Yes, I know that you had suspicions that Patrick had paid me and that I would disappear from this electronic world, or that Google finally had decided that enough is enough of this infamous spammer from ZA, and had closed me down. Not So! Patrick paid me not a cent! and if he did, you would be the first to know.

I just decided to give it a bit of a break, and concentrate on some of the other baggage that I have decided to manifest in my reality. I moved my website from one host to another and then to another. The second host was 1 Dollar Hosting, and that was like floating in an acid bath. Their technicians speak a dialect of Zonga, while their servers are situated in outer Mongolia. Yet, unlike, Edwafin, they immediately refunded my money when requested to do so. Lesson: 1 Dollar is worth 1 Dollar, and Edwafin spoof goes Poof!
Then I went to Just Hosting. Hey, those are fine people and the transfer went as smooth as a baby's bum. Of course then I began working on the site and managed bungle it up grandly by locking myself out of the administration panel - we'll have fun today!

As was to be expected there was little news from the very well known company, Edwafin and its subsidiary Edwabond. Also quiet was admiral Patrick Stapleton, one-striped-lieutenant, Don Hutchinson, and under-corporal, Carol Garderner - and we remember the sms to Stapleton, telling him to soldier on? We did receive an anonymous contribution with a link to the Cape Town based, The Witness (see here). The article elaborates on the recent court appearance at which the matter was again postponed until 18 May. It also mentioned that four "role-players" (like in acting, pretending, making the world believe the unbelievable), applied to have the company placed under judicial management. Although I have a good idea who three of these role-players are the fourth one?... I wonder.

Also severely lacking were rumours about travel plans such as to Australia and the good old US of A. Of course there is always the option of starting a new company (or perhaps purchasing one, this obviates the necessity of opening a new bank account and showing your financials) in a country like the USA or Iceland, and exporting the cutting edge motor car abroad (in Iceland you would need to supply snow chains though). Naw, I don't think so, but perhaps there is an investor or two who would like to invest his/her money with the decrepit Edwafin in SA. Now, that would be a novel thought! Say that happened - just a conjecture - one American or Icelander decides to invest with Edwafin, then finds out he no longer wants to. Oops, what will we pay the investors with coming end of April, May and thereafter!!!

Of course, that train of thought brought me to that time of the month. I know, some of you already get paid on the 15th of every month, but normal people get paid at the end of the week or at the end of the month. What will happen in two day's time? I always like positiveness but in this case I have difficulties in visualizing a reality that is different from the reality I'm am now experiencing - now, where is that book on Quantum Leaping. Of course, memories come back in mind about the times that we also received our interest payments around the 15 of the month. Then they had to go and get that blasted computer program, and since then nothing was the same.

A bit of news that I did get, was that financial statements were not distributed (as per minutes of the meeting) at either the PM or Cape Town meetings, but they were shown on overhead projectors. Apparently they caused quite a stir with attendees. Isn't it interesting, sad and peculiar that old Patrick refuses to provide us with financial statements.

Today's famous quote (Stapleton letter, 19 December 2008, first line):

"I am writing this letter in order to be totally transparent with you as a valuable stakeholder in the Edwafin group and its income producing subsidiary companies."

Have you noticed the hilarities: "totally transparent", but refuse to provide you with any financials or copies of prospectuses (Scribd is not working today and a copy of an email that I received after applying for a copy of the prospectus will be shown tomorrow). Then the tragic part: "Edwafin group and its income producing subsidiary companies": Edwabond collects money, Edwafin costs money (salaries, rent etc.),the DMA is not in production yet, and there is another subsidiary that apparently does "good Samaritan work" by distributing goodies. Which would be the income producing subsidiaries then?

Patrick, Patrick, Patrick - will we ever learn. That's the topic for tomorrow.

Was it Telepathy?; the count is two

As I was accounting my interaction with Mr JP Fourie of SAVCA yesterday, he was emailing me his response to my original letter concerning the behaviour of Edwabond/Edwafin. The letter is shown below, and essentially needs no further comment.

I do wish to thank JP for his clear and forthright response, which shows that SAVCA now is aware of the situation. Although I never expected SAVCA to take up the fight for me (us the investors), I am in a sense a bit disappointed, as the letter essentially states all the things we know already and much of what I have written about on this blog.

I am also not to sure about what the "answer I was looking for" alludes to, and my argument remains - and I repeat - that Companies like Edwabond use their affiliations to bodies and institutions like the NCC, FSB, and SAVCA, amongst others to create an aura of credibility, sincerity and professionalism around their activities and collection of other people's money. These bodies allow such companies to use their names, logos and acronyms to promote such illustrious images. But when the fan gets struck by unpleasant material, virtually all of them disappear into anonymity and hide behind a façade of non-commitment, and mumbo-jumbo.

One supposes, that once the scandal has been in the newspapers; after we have had many "I've told you so's", "will we ever learn?". and when ii is clear that we have all lost a great deal of money, the world just carries on turning in empty space, with acronyms, like NCC, FSB, SAVCA, CIPRO, etc. etc. continuing a life of their own - organisms cultivated by the human species, dotting the planet like a trail of remnants resulting from the hilarity of human activity.

Well, at least that makes two bodies we have had some kind of response from, the FSB and the SAVCA. For what it's worth - I'm depressed.

20090420 From Savca

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Edwabond disappears from the ether

Now isn't that magic. Firstly, Google allowed me to add more pictures to my blog!

And then,

POOF!! like waking up empty handed after having received a handful of money in a dream, Edwabond longer is on the Internet! A sad day really, as this was one of the remaining vestiges that we the investors could visit to longingly look at the organization who dematerialized our money as well. It makes sense though: like dream, like money, like waking up, like empty site, like empty hands. Welcome to the world of realities - most of it (actually all of it) created by the I in You.

Hey! another one!

Let's talk about SAVCA and its EO Mr JP Fourie. JP Fourie is a very nice and decent man. I immediately liked him when I spoke to him on the phone, two weeks ago. What happened is this: SAVCA's info email was on the blogs email list (limited to 10) for a long time, and I was under the impression that they, like NCC, NPA, CIPRO, DTI, and other similar letters of importance were just not responding to the dire situation called the Edwafin Saga. I found another email address, this time of the Executive Office, Mr JP Fourie, and placed that on the email list.
It wasn't long before I received a phone call from JP (around 6 April 2009). He had been totally in the dark about the whole debacle surrounding one of his member companies. I was blown over and not a happy camper, but assumed that this was one of the "authorities", Patrick Stapleton would have mentioned his predicament to. But, not so. Can you also see the pattern? Those "authorities" and institutions who suffer from the short arm sickness, were enlightened by uncle Patrick, but he was careful to avoid those with more integrity and possibly oomph. At the request of JP, I wrote a formal letter on 8 April, concerning the situation with Edwafin and sent it immediately to him by email. I don't need to show you the letter as its contents is old meal for most of us now. The next day, JP acknowledged receipt of my letter and requested a few days time to respond to the letter (that was just before the long weekend). Well, it has been more than a week now, and there has been a meeting with Edwafin, NCC, and the FSB already, the postponement of the courtcase to 18 May, I have made up with Soraya, and the rest is as silent as the millisecond before the big bang - I was there, and heard it, do you remember?

We had a meeting last Thursday

If you eagerly logged into the blog to find out about any news concerning last Thursday's meeting between Edwabond, the FSB, and the NCC, then I'm sorry to disappoint you. I have a suspicion, that anything anybody has to say about this matter - if there is anything to say, will be in the press and probably after the long weekend. Of course this will give everybody the opportunity to enjoy they chocolate Easter eggs.

Of the three participants I must say that I have no doubts about the FSB'. Mr Lawrence Muravha has shown himself to be capable, sincere and above board. He has continuously responded positively to questions and issues, and seems to have an open attitude with the public's interest at heart. Mr le Meme, and the NCC does concern me somewhat. Their manner of handling my enquiry was extremely slick and somewhat evasive, or am I mistaken? But then I might be mistaken in the belief that they have any responsibility to the public, and perhaps their purpose in life is to make companies look good by proudly displaying NCC as part of their armament of credentials.

The third party was, of course, Edwabond, with Carole Gardiner at the helm. She is the person who takes your money, and then follows it up with the advice to consult with a debt advisor (that is if you still have another income of sorts), if they cannot pay you your interest. Now, isn't that extremely humane and helpful - the ultimate in feminine vindictiveness? Caroline Myss, the author, refers to this archetype as the "consuming-mother" figure - they gobble up that which they nurture and maternally produce.

Perhaps I am not taking this meeting too seriously, because I do n ot perceive it having much effect on the outcome of our, the investor's, struggle to get some equity from Edwafin. Yes, it would be with some satisfaction that I would learn of the revoking of Edwabond's licence - at least it would hinder them somewhat in taking others for a merry ride - but it would not return us our money.

A bit of trivia:
I refuse to add the word Edwafin to my spell checkers list of legitimate words. As a result, every time I type "Edwafin" the word processor suggests the words "deafen" and "deathen", like in the deafening silence of our deathening interest payments.

Housekeeping - NCC back on the list; SAVCA? and statistics

The morning was long, and gave me ample opportunity to think about my blogging activities. First I had to get up along with the birds because my licence had to be renewed. I discovered that my old licence had expired some days ago, and anticipated a good few hours in a queue with assorted fellow citizens. Not so! No waiting in line, and after half an hour we were back home, temporary licence in my pocket. Yes, its good to be legal again. I need to compliment the Tshwane council with their excellent, pleasant and efficient service.

Before I get to the statistics of the blog, I need to make some announcements:

NCC back in the loop
The NCC is back on the email list, and this time Clive le Meme will receive all the blog updates and comments as a direct feed. Now, I must add that I do this with some hesitation, as they don't seem like a very cooperative lot, and it is my sense that they are not friendly either. The reason why I decided to let them be in the first place, is that I considered them of little consequence in the matter of Edwafin. However, after some thought and after listening to the little devil on my shoulder, I fully realize that they are solidly involved in the Edwafin debacle. Let's be honest, their acronym appears on the brochures of Edwabond, the folks that dealt with the marketing of our dentures.

I quote again from the NCC's website:

We undertake to perform a risk management due diligence of our client’s practice and thereafter implement a compliance monitoring system that will not only exceed the requirements of the legislation but will also help to maintain the profitability of the practice.

According to Mr Le Meme they have been in contact with Edwabond since October last year, which to me is an indication that they must have been aware of the brewing problems since then. The question is now: "What did they do to try and remedy the situation?" Le Meme states in an email that he is satisfied that they complied with their brief, but where do we see any of the results. Is it not for us the public to decide whether a public body like the NCC has fulfilled their brief? How is it that six months later we have to deal with this mess, while the NCC has seemingly been silent all that time. One wonders what the NCC did to help maintain the profitability of Edwaband/Edwafin, or how the company was allowed to continue its activities, while they were aware of the financial difficulties.
As mentioned before, Mr Le Meme will receive our regular updates, and if he prefers not to, I shall replace his address with that of the CEO of the NCC, Adv. Opperman.
Tut, tut, tut, Mr Le Meme, we are waiting with abated breath on information about your activities in respect of Edwafin.

SAVCA revisited
You may remember that SAVCA was mentioned in the same breath as the NCC, and they were also placed on the email list. At least the NCC responded in a manner of sorts, but SAVCA is a quiet as the local graveyard that was raided by the ghost busters. Alas we found another email address, the executive officer, Mr JP Fourie, and he will be receiving updates from this blog in future. I repeat my previous quote taken from the site of SAVCA:
The codes of conduct of the SAVCA includes the following clauses:

Members will conduct their business in a responsible way and will not engage in practices which would be damaging to the image and interests of the venture capital and private equity industries.

Members will assure a high standard of their investment portfolio and will avoid financing enterprises or participating in activities which are contrary to these goals. They will take a long term view of the economy and private equity and venture capital industries, rather than engage in short-term speculation.

Each member shall promote and maintain ethical standards of conduct and deal fairly and honestly with all business concerns seeking its assistance, with all companies to or with whom it makes loans or investments, and with all other private equity and venture capital companies.

No venture capital or private equity fund may be used to promote the welfare or assist its directors, managers, employees, nominees, and representatives, except insofar as they benefit from the success of the fund according to established compensation and profit sharing contracts.

Members will be accountable to their investors by fully disclosed operating and financial reports.

Unethical conduct will be deemed to include any evasive device intended to conceal non-compliance with the Code of Conduct and any regulations enacted by the proposed Professional Standards Committee, designated by the committee of SAVCA for its enforcement.

Members will abide by the code of conduct and all rulings and regulations issued by the proposed Professional Standards Committee designated by SAVCA committee.

Isn't it interesting, but perhaps typical, that two of the more important bodies who's emblems and acronyms were used to promote Edwabond, are now tiptoeing through the tulips. One presumes that their work is easy when all goes well, but that it increases in complexity when trouble brews and actual active attention needs to be given to resolving a problem.

Statistics
A few days ago, I installed a statistics module in this blog, and I'm sorry that I had not thought of it before, as one has no idea about how many people have visited the site since its inception. Some figures for the period 6 April until today (2.5 days):

Total visitors: 488
Documents accessed: 186

Entering the sixth month of financial draught

As we statrted April, we started the sixth month of essentially non-payment by Edwafin. For me it is also thee fourth month that I have been trying to get my investment back from our friend Stapleton.
Perhaps you will recall that NCC is used as a credential on the promotional material of Edwabond, the Edwafin subsidiary that promotes and handles the debenture products. A few days ago I added the email address of the CEO of the NCC to the blog mailing list. I sense that that did not go down well.
Somewhere I missed a beat or two, as the NCC's Clive le Meme informed me via email that they have been in contact with Edwabond since October last year already, and that he will be attending the meeting with the FSB and Edwabond on 8 April. As far as I was aware, the problems around Edwafin (and its subsidiaries) only became the subject of government scrutiny during recent weeks. Anyway, read for yourself:
20090404 Email From CNN 1

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I removed the NCC's email from the list as it is clear that we don't share the same planet, and that we have to do here with a highly evolved species that clearly does like interacting with standard humans. Thus I provided Mr Le Meme, with my arguments:
20090404 Mario Responds to CNN 1

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To which the response was:
20090404 Email From CNN 2

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Well, clearly that was the wrong address, and is a clear indication that elements of 19th century snobbery is well an alive in the 21st century. The point that I tried to convey to Mr Le Meme is that people bought into Edwabond/Edwafin based on various factors, and one of those is the credibility that organizations like the NCC gives to such a financial institution. Five/six months after things begin to collapse at Edwafin, they provide the enquirer with a curt "we feel that we have done enough, and our duty." My -my, during those intervening months attempts were still made by Edwabond to rope investors into their scheme.

But let us forget about the NCC. An important aspect emerged from my interaction with the "entity" as Mr Le Meme refers to the NCC. Both the FSB and the NCC, can only deal with Edwabond, and have little jurisdiction over Edwafin, if any. Beside revoking Edwabonds licence, they have little to contribute to recovering any or some of the investors money. or to bring any perpetrators to book. It would, therefore, be prudent to rather concentrate efforts on recovering our money via other legal means, and on reporting progress that may be made by other Government bodies. I must say, though, that most of them are extremely quiet.

In the News

We are in the news again! Go look at Fin24 for Marc's latest article concerning Edwabond and the actions of the FSB. Click here. Well done Marc!

FSB - this is important for all investors; DTI?

Like most things, all this activity around the Edwafin issues has its positive aspects as well. Ever since I made contact with the FSB (Financial Services Board), I have been speaking to Mr Lawrence Muravha, Analyst: FAIS Enforcement Department of the FSB. We have spoken several times and he his in charge of the investigation of Edwabond specifically (that is the subsidiary of Edwafin that is registered with them).

Some of you might have tried to contact the FSB via their internet front end: that doesn't work at the moment as they are experiencing problems with their server. Most of us know about that, and we will have to be a bit patient. Note: if you want to complain with the FSB, don't use the form on FSB's web site but write to Mr Muravha directly at the address given below. This morning, I delivered copies of documents personally to Mr Muravha, and although they are situated in a most gruesome building, near the old ghost house in Pretoria/Tshwane, he seems to be well aware of the situation and is actively working on the case.

However, he needs the help of investors. He is trying to build a database of all the investors with Edwafin and invites you to contact him to leave your details. Those investors who invested with Edwafin since 1 November 2008, are especially important, as it turns out that Edwabond continued to promote, as it still does now, even after they became aware of their financial predicament. (One lady was offered an investment opportunity at 15%, the day before yesterday, and was told that the cash flow problem would be resolved by the end of the month - well, we have seen that happen, have we not?)

Mr Lawrence Muravha's email is lawrence@fsb.co.za. Alternatively, you could also write to me at mkoppers@chromatique.com, and I will forward your information to. However, complain need to be lodged directly with him.

And then there is the DTI. Now they are a different story all together. Have you tried to contact them lately? It is probably easier to get your money from Edwafin than to get any kind of response from the DTI. They are on this mailing list, but there is not much hope.
As far as can be established, the DTI was informed of the situation some months ago already (perhaps they are the authorities Stapleton referred to), but now they are merely coasting along twiddling any thumbs they are not sitting on. Have you ever tried to get an email address from their impressive website. No joy. Like so many modern organizations they are hidden behind a call centre number, and they are not in the mood to help.
Hey guys, wake up. Your country is calling you!